Michael Nyman

Michael Nyman's Musique A Grande Vitesse (MGV) translates as ‘high speed music’ and was commissioned by the Festival de Lille for the inauguration of the TGV North EuropeanParis-Lille line in 1993. This piece of sheet music runs continuously but was conceived as an abstract imaginary journey; or rather five inter-connected journeys each ending with a slow mainly stepwise melody which isonly heard in its 'genuine' form when the piece reaches its destination. Thematic 'transformation' is a key to MGV as a whole. Throughout the piece ideas - rhythmic melodic harmonic motivic textural -constantly change their identity as they pass through different musical 'environments'. The opening bars establish both a recurrent rhythmic principle - 9 11 or 13-beat rhythmic cycles heard against a regular 8 - and aharmonic process - chord sequences (mainly over C and E) which have the note E in common. (Coincidentally MGV begins in C and ends in E). A later scalic syncopated figure (again first heard over C E and A)begins the second section featuring Brass in D flat. The topography of MGV should be experienced without reference to planning description or timetables. Its tempo changes and unpredictable slowings downbear no logical relation to the high speed of the Paris-Lille journey while the temptation to treat MGV as a concerto grosso with the Michael Nyman band as the ripeno was resisted: more suitably theband (amplified in live performance) lays down the tracks on which MGV runs.

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 EnglishSinfonia 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

Written for soprano and ensemble (Eb clarinet C clarinet viola cello double bass) with text by Mozart.

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 butthis 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 haddied - 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 underthe '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 areavailable on hire or special order. Duration 15 minutes.

Full Score-Something Connected With Energy was composed in 2008 and was commissioned by the Festival Della Scienza 2008 Genova Italy with financial support by ERG. Scored for Flute/ Piccolo Clarinet/ BassClarinet Alto/ Tenor Saxophone Horn Trumpet Vibraphone Piano and Strings. Duration is approximately: 48 minutes.

Full Score-Originally composed in 2007 this is the Full Score to the 2013 revised version. Duration: 21 minutes.

Written for soprano and ensemble (Eb clarinet C clarinet viola cello double bass) with text by Mozart.

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 Stottwith the Orchestre National de Lille under Jean-Claude Casadesus on 26th September 1993.

Vocal Score-Nyman's 2011 The Prologue to ‘Dido and Aeneas’ is a prologue to Henry Purcell's opera on a libretto by Nahum Tate. The libretto is based on Book IV of Virgil's Aeneid. It recountsthe love of Dido Queen of Carthage for the Trojan hero Aeneas and her despair when he abandons her. This edition of the work is scored for SATB with Piano reduction.

At every turn Nyman has proved eminently practical. Not for him the ivory tower anguish of a tormented composer grappling with abstract systems. Rather he has consistently displayed an openness to collaboration a spry sense ofhumour a literate imagination and an instinctive ability to engage a highly diverse audience.

British composer Michael Nyman ‘discovered’ this work when he played Leporello’s catalogue aria from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni on the Piano in the style of Jerry Lee Lewis. He has written that that musical discovery ‘dictatedthe dynamic articulation and texture of everything I’ve subsequently done’. The work is based on the first sixteen bars of the Catalogue Aria with thrusting rhythmic propulsion and repeated double stops for all instrumentsproduced within a short thrilling time frame.