SKU: HL.14023640
UPC: 884088676384. 8.75x11.75x0.375 inches.
String Quartet No.4 was written for the Camilli Quartet who gave the first performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, April 1995. It is dedicated to the memory of Nyman's composition teacher, Alan Bush. Duration 40 minutes. A score is available for sale.
SKU: HL.14037415
ISBN 9781849380621. 9.0x12.0x0.11 inches.
Yamamoto Perpetuo was written by Michael Nyman for solo Violin in 1993 to a commission by fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto for his show that year in Paris. Following its success, Nyman added a second Violin, Viola and Cello to the solo line and turned it into his String Quartet No.4. This arrangement by Andy Findon for solo Flute restores the work as a stand-alone piece for one player in eleven sections, drawing additionally upon material from the quartet version.
SKU: HL.14023604
UPC: 884088840181. 10.5x14.0x0.226 inches.
Michael Nyman's Double Concerto was commissioned by Mazda Cars (UK) Limited. The work was first performed by John Harle (Saxophone), Julian Lloyd Webber (Cello) and the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by James Judd on 8 March 1997 at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Performance duration: 28 minutes. Available here is the Full Score of Nyman's Double Concerto.
SKU: HL.14023642
ISBN 9780711978119. 9.0x12.0x0.243 inches.
This work was written by Michael Nyman towards the end of 1997, commissioned by the English Sinfonia to celebrate the orchestra's taking up residence in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. The first performance was given by the English Sinfonia under Bramwell Toevy at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 14 April 1998. Duration c. 17mins. Instrumentation:; 2 FLUTES; 2 OBOES; 2 CLARINETS IN Bb; 2 BASSOONS; 2 HORNS IN F; 2 TRUMPETS IN Bb; TIMPANI; STRINGS.
SKU: HL.14023645
ISBN 9780711983281. 9.0x12.0x0.162 inches.
These three solo harpsichord pieces are a collection of recent compositions, each with an individual theme and idea. The first, The convertibility of Lute Strings, was first performed at the Purcell Room, London in 1992. The second, Tango for Tim was written in memory of a friend and composer Tim Souster, which was composed and first performed in 1994. The third piece, Elisabeth Gets Her Way, is an extended version of the cadenza which Elisabeth Chojnacka persuaded Michael Nyman to add to his Harpsichord Concerto, which includes material from the first two pieces in this album.
SKU: HL.14023641
ISBN 9780711964082. 9.0x12.0x0.219 inches.
String Quartet No.4 was written for the Camilli Quartet who gave the first performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, April 1995. It is dedicated to the memory of Nyman's composition teacher, Alan Bush. This quartet is a narrative made up of a chain of twelve complete but often cross-related movements, each quite simple in design. For instance, the Scottish melody first heard in the second half of I is hinted at in the 2nd violin/viola in the second fast section of II and is directly quoted again during III and XII. The theme of the fast section of IV is taken up again in VIII; IX reverts to the mood of the opening of I, while the rising scale/syncopated themes of II, IX and the bass of X and XII are related. X also reintroduces the slow harmonics theme from VII. XII is (apparently) cast in the form of a baroque French rondeau. The main theme of VI was plucked out of the Quartet and used in my score for Christopher Hampton's film Carrington. Duration 40 minutes. A set of parts is available for sale.
SKU: HL.14023628
ISBN 9780711975729. 12.0x9.0x0.095 inches.
On The Fiddle consists of three pieces derived from scores to three Peter Greenaway films. The first piece Full Fathom Five, is a version of the Shakespeare song setting made for Prospero's Books (1990). The second Angelfish Decay, is an arrangement of an arrangement: the music for the speeded up time lapse decaying animal sequences in A Zed And Two Noughts (1985) was written for two violins and a harpsichord. This was subsequently 'reduced' to a violin solo for Zoo Caprices (1986). For On The Fiddle a piano part has been added. The final piece Miserere Paraphrase, was written for use in The Cook, The Thief, His Wife And Her Lover (1989), and is a transcription of Nyman's setting of the 'Miserere' text (Psalm 51) sung in the film by a boy soprano and mixed chorus. This version for cello and piano written in 1997. Duration c.15 mins.
SKU: HL.14023668
ISBN 9780711932975. 9.0x12.0x0.095 inches.
String Quartet No.3 was written for, and first performed by the Balanescu Quartet, February 1990 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Duration 16 minutes. Instrumental parts are available on sale. Quoting composer: In the summer of 1989 I composed a choral work, Out of the Ruins, for Agnieszka Piotrowska's BBC2 documentary which dealt with the physical and emotional responses of some inhabitants of Leninakhan to the earthquake which devastated Armenia the previous December. When he heard the recording of the work that I made with the Holy Echmiadzin Chorus under the fervent conducting of Khoren Meykhanejian, Alex Balanescu suggested turning Out of the Ruins into a string quartet. There seemed no reason or opportunity to do this until I felt the need to add to the intensity of my experiences in Armenia the no less profound experience of witnessing the images of the Romanian revolution on television during the later part of December 1989. The compositional procedure was as follows: to take Out of the Ruins as a template on which the Romanian vocal or instrumental music would be superimposed, quite often stretched into new intervallic shapes though the demands of the completely performed harmonic structure.
SKU: HL.14023621
ISBN 9780711956285. 8.25x11.75x0.11 inches.
Commissioned by the Fine Arts Brass Ensemble for first performance at the 1991 Cambridge Festival. Duration 12 minutes. Set of parts is available for sale. Scored for 2 Trumpets, Horn, Trombone, Tuba.
SKU: HL.14023666
ISBN 9780711932791. 9.0x12.0x0.153 inches.
String Quartet No.2 was commissioned by Shobana Jeyasingh as a solo dance work: Miniatures. It was first performed by her with the Balanescu Quartet on 15 September 1988, London. Duration 22 minutes. Instrumental parts are available on sale.
SKU: HL.14023655
ISBN 9780711977457. 9.0x12.0x0.245 inches.
This cycle of settings of poems by Paul Celan was written between May and July 1990 for Ute Lemper. The texts are taken from the following collections: 'Chanson einer Dame im Schatten' and 'Corona' from Mohn und Gedachtnis(1952), 'Nachtlich geschurzt' from Von Schwelle zu Schwelle (1955), 'Blume' from Sprachgitter (1959), and 'Es war Erde in ihnen' and 'Psalm' from Die Niemandsrose of 1963. The settings of 'Corona' and 'Blume' both introduce an eight-bar chord sequence derived from Chopin's Mazurka in A minor, Op.17 No.4 (the introduction to which was used by Gorecki in his Symphony No.3). Piano and voice version written in 1997 at the request of Hilary Summers.
SKU: HL.14020013
UPC: 884088650094. 9.0x11.75x0.536 inches.
Concerto, for piano and small orchestra, based entirely on material selected from the soundtrack for the film The Piano. Commissioned by the Festival de Lille, it was composed in spring 1993 and first performed by Kathryn Stott with the Orchestre National de Lille under Jean-Claude Casadesus on 26th September 1993.
SKU: HL.14020016
UPC: 884088839666. 10.5x14.0x0.205 inches.
Work for Soprano Saxophone and Chamber Orchestra.
SKU: HL.14023608
ISBN 9780711932982. 9.0x12.0x0.128 inches.
Score for this piece, which was comissioned by London Brass and first performed in 1992. Quoting composer: The piece was completed without title on 12th August 1992. A title once considered was Canons, Chorales and Waltzes, but this was dropped since there was only one canon (the opening) and only genuine waltz (apart from a passage towards the end which superimposes the canon over a waltz rhythm). The following day I read the paper that John Cage had died - the day I finished writing. For this reason, but mainly because Cage was the most revolutionary practical music thinker of the 20th century, this piece is dedicated to him. His influence on my music may be perceived under the 'very un-Cagein' surface: though stylistically there may be little in For John Cage that may have been to his taste, I hope he would at least have appreciated its diversity, its non-simultaneous multiplicity. Parts are available on hire or special order. Duration 15 minutes.
