Composer's Notes:When I was asked to write a piece to celebrate the restoration of Michelangelo’s Mosè I returned to the paper written by Sigmund Freud on the sculpture which I had discovered by chance many years ago.Freud’s fascination with the Mosè began in 1901 when he visited San Pietro in Vincoli for the first time. A series of subsequent visits culminated in the publication of the Moses of Michaelangelo in 1914 from which I have usedtwo extracts to ‘frame’ the main body of my text which consists of selections from Michelangelo’s own letters. In 1505 Michelangelo was summoned to Rome by Pope Julis II and was commissioned to build a tomb which would reflectthe magnificence of the Pontiff’s reign. Forty years and four Popes later the tomb modified and scaled down due to a variety of financial and political changes of circumstance was completed. The letters give the impression ofan idealist at work: Michelangelo personally selected each piece of marble and supervised its transportation to Rome by his more worldly and capricious paymasters. His creative and artistic frustrations are mirrored by problems ofa more a practical nature; payment for both his services and the materials is erratic. At one point his is accused of embezzling funds. The complete text tells the story of an artists struggle and eventual triumph againstexternal circumstances. The Mosè by virtue of its very nature combines the elements of the physical and the spiritual with which Michelangelo challenged and eventually triumphed over the restraints of the context in which he hadto work. The lovingly selected and cared for marble in the hands of the unpaid exploited artist is transformed into something more substantial and eternal. Michael Nyman

Out of the Ruins touches on Gregorian chant and sacred music of the Baroque. This is a slowly evolving requiem that draws on Armenian traditions with no hint of Nyman’s signature propulsive rhythms.Some of the music can be heard in different form in Nyman’s third Quartet and the soundtrack for Carrington. In 1988 Armenia suffered a devastating earthquake in which caused widespread destruction and killed more than25 000 people. BBC director Agnieszka Piotrowska asked Michael Nyman to write a work to accompany a documentary she was making for the first anniversary and offered text from 10th century poet Grigor Narekatsi’s Book ofLamentations. Nyman is a contemporary British composer of richly layered modular minimalist pieces often incorporating period instruments or instrumentation outside the normal Orchestral offerings. He isparticularly well known for his film scores including The Piano The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover Prospero’s Books and The Claim among many others. His work is widely performed and recorded.

This work composed for Children's Voices and String Quartet was commissioned by the Young People's Chorus of New York City. Conductor's score and String Parts are available from the Publishers.My text is extracted fromRodney Livingstone's translation of a short essay by the German cultural historian Walter Benjamin (1892-1940). It was written between 1914-15 during a metaphysical phase before Benjamin embraced Marxism. This text emphasises theyoung person's as opposed to the adult's approach to colour: 'for the person who sees with a child's eyes it marks boundaries it is not a layer of something superimposed on matter as it is with adults'. This work continues myinterest in art-based texts - from 'The Kiss' (1985) to my opera 'Facing Goya' (2000/02)© Michael Nyman 2003

Chamber Opera. Libretto by Oliver Sacks Christopher Rawlence and Michael Morris after The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks. First performed on 27 October 1986. Duration 1hr 10 minutes. A full score isavailable for hire or purchase performance material is available for hire. Scored for Soprano Tenor Baritone Harp Piano 2 Violins Viola 2 Cellos.

A song composed for Letters Riddles and Writs directed by Jeremy Newson in 1990/1. Devised for the Artifax/BBC 'NOT MOZART' series commemorating the bicentenary of Mozart's death the film takes as song texts extracts fromMozart's letters and a set of riddles he wrote and distributed in Vienna during the 1787 Carnival. This song combines one such riddle with a remark Mozart made about his professional prospects shortly before his death and isbased entirely on extracts from two of his Haydn quarters.

Setting the texts of Robert Herrick this work for Countertenor and Viol Consort was commissioned by Paulin Bündgen - Ensemble Céladon Grame cncm and Centre culturel de rencontre d'Ambronay. Score and parts available: CH84744

Balancing The Books was commissioned by the swingle singers for the Bach 250th anniversary celebrations. The work uses material from the C sharp Major Preludes from Bach's two books of the 48 Preludes and Fugues. This forms part of a series of new works by leading European composers. There are no words the singers use their own syllables. Scored for SSAATTBB.

A setting of Psalm 51 originally written for the film The Cook The Thief His Wife And Her Lover.

Retrouvez 16 chansons et 7 arias pour Soprano et Piano, composés sur une période de 15 ans entre 1989 et 2004, avec tous les textes en Anglais, Français, Allemand et leurs traductions Portugaises et Russes. / Chant Et Piano / Partition

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 #4 (the introduction to which was used by Gorecki in his Symphony #3). Piano and voice version written in 1997 at the request of Hilary Summers. / Voix Alto Et Piano