The
Piano
Music composed by MICHAEL NYMAN
Performed by the MUNICH PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA and MICHAEL NYMAN, piano
Virgin CDVE919, 1994 - Total duration:
57:35 |
The
Piano is probably Michael Nyman's most successful score, if not in terms
of musical originality, but certainly in terms of popularity. The most
obvious reason for this is given away by the title itself: The Piano which
is more than a convenient and easy to remember title but is in fact the
main feature of the story. Ada the leading female character a accompanied
by her nine year old daughter has to sail to New Zealand to find a husband,
something next to impossible to achieve in Victorian Scotland because she
is a too poor and, also because she is mute. Once arrived
in New Zealand, her husband refuses,
of all her possessions, to transport her piano from the beach where she
landed to their house up on the hills. She strikes a deal with her neighbour,
an rough illiterate tattooed man: he takes the piano to his home
but she can have it back: for every lessons she gives him she is given
back one black key. A strange relationship soon starts to enfold...
Because of the very unusual character
of the story composer Michael Nyman had to tack the scoring problems from
a different angle:
"In writing for The Piano - Nyman
wrote -* I had to establish not only the usual repertoire of music [underscore,
titles tracks...etc] for the film, but a specific repertoire of piano music
that would have been Ada's repertoire as a pianist. I began creating her
a folio of material that I imagined she had in her head, that her fingers
carried around with her, almost as if she had been the composer.
Initially I was unsure as to how
precisely to pitch the style: it had to be a "possible" mld nineteenth
century music but not pastiche and obviously written in 1992. But then
I had the perception that, since Ada was from Scotland. it was logical
to use Scottish folk and popular songs as the basis for our music. Once
I hit on that idea the whole thing fell into place.
It's as though I was writing the
music of another composer who happened to live
in Scotland, then in New Zealand
in the mid 1850s. Someone who was obviously not a professional composer
or pianist. So there had to be a modesty to it.
It was a real challenge to write
this music, because it is absolutely crucial to the film.
If you delve Into the reasons for
the piano's existence, you realize that the establishing of a musical language
is crucial. Since Ada doesn't speak the piano music doesn't simply have
the usual expressive role but becomes a substitute for her voice. The sound
of the piano becomes her character, her mood, her expressions, her unspoken
dialogue. It has to convey the messages she is putting across about her
feelings toward, Baines, during the piano lessons, and these differ from
lesson to lesson as the relationship, state of sexual bargaining and passion
develop."
And certainly Nyman succeeded in
what he wanted to achieve here. All the criticisms which usually are made
about his style: the minimalism, the barren harmonizations, the quirkiness
of the melodic lines, the relentless monotonous broken chords passages
have been used to his advantage and turned into qualities. The music describes
perfectly well Ada's stubborn, obsessive personality, her loneliness and
her extreme difficulty to communicate, being isolated by disability and
an entourage so rough and brutal. Apart from her relationship with Baines
who little by little opens up. Her music becomes a way to communicate with
him.
Out of the tracks, the cues Big
My Secret and The Heart asks Pleasure First are certainly the most striking.
*The
Piano, piano score introduction notes |
1.
To The Edge Of The Earth
2.
Big My Secret
3.
Wild And Distant Shore, A
4.
Heart Asks Pleasure First, The
5.
Here To There
6.
Promise, The
7.
Bed Of Ferns, A
8.
Fling, The
9.
Scent Of Love, The
10.
Deep Into The Forest
11.
Mood That Passes Through You, The
12.
Lost And Found
13.
Embrace, The
14.
Little Impulse
15.
Sacrifice, The
16.
I Clipped Your Wing
17.
Wounded, The
19.
Dreams Of A Journey |
