The Piano Sings
Encyclopedia
The Piano Sings is a 2005 solo album by Michael Nyman
featuring personal interpretations of film music he wrote between 1993 and 2003. It is his second release on his own label, MN Records, and his 49th release overall. The album was released alongside a concert tour.
Nyman's February 2005 statement about the album printed within the booklet is very brief:
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
featuring personal interpretations of film music he wrote between 1993 and 2003. It is his second release on his own label, MN Records, and his 49th release overall. The album was released alongside a concert tour.
Nyman's February 2005 statement about the album printed within the booklet is very brief:
All my music starts out as piano music so the opportunity to get back to that essence appealed to me. Hence my desire to make this album a personal signature as a composer/performer. I have deliberately focused on my more song-like music: the album title suggested itself.
Track listing
- Diary of Love (The End of the AffairThe End of the Affair (1999 film)Michael Nyman would later use "Diary of Love" to open and close his solo album, The Piano Sings . As with many of Nyman's 1990s scores, he incorporates material from his String Quartet No.3, which was in turn based on a choral piece titled Out of the Ruins.-Track listing:#Diary of Hate 2:38#Henry...
) - If (The Diary of Anne FrankAnne no nikki- Track listing :#Amsterdam Dawn#Anne's Birthday#The Schoolroom#Letter From Germany#Goodbye Moortje#Candlefire#Renewal#Light Of Love#Chatterbox Waltz#Hanukah#Spring Freedom#Concentration Camp#If#First Kiss#D-Day#The Diary Of Hope#Silent Separation...
) - Franklyn (WonderlandWonderland (1999 film)Wonderland is a 1999 drama film about the lives of a London couple, their three adult daughters and absent son. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, the film stars Jack Shepherd, Kika Markham, Shirley Henderson, Gina McKee, Molly Parker, John Simm, and Stuart Townsend...
) - The Morrow (GattacaGattacaGattaca is a 1997 science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol. It stars Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law with supporting roles played by Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal and Alan Arkin....
) - Jack (Wonderland)
- The Heart Asks Pleasure First (The PianoThe PianoThe Piano is a 1993 New Zealand drama film about a mute pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier backwater on the west coast of New Zealand. The film was written and directed by Jane Campion, and stars Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin...
) - Big my Secret (The Piano)
- Debbie (Wonderland)
- The Departure (Gattaca)
- Why (The Diary of Anne Frank)
- Odessa Beach (Man with a Movie CameraMan with a Movie CameraMan with a Movie Camera , sometimes called The Man with the Movie Camera, The Man with a Camera, The Man With the Kinocamera, or Living Russia is an experimental 1929 silent documentary film, with no story and no actors, by Russian director Dziga Vertov, edited by his wife Elizaveta...
) - Lost and Found (The Piano)
- The Exchange (The ClaimThe ClaimThe Claim is a 2000 British Western/romance film directed by Michael Winterbottom. The screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce is loosely based on the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy. The original music score is composed by Michael Nyman....
) - Candlefire (The Diary of Anne Frank)
- All Imperfect Things (The Piano)
- Diary of Love [reprise] (The End of the Affair)
Personnel
- Composed and performed by Michael NymanMichael NymanMichael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
- Recorded, mixed and edited by Austin Ince at Whitfield Street Studios, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, February 12-14, 2005
- Assistant engineer: Phil Tyreman
- Produced by Declan Colgan
- Mastered by Peter MewPeter MewPeter Mew is a British music audio engineer at Abbey Road Studios where he is now senior mastering engineer. He came to Abbey Road in 1965 as a tape operator and has since worked with many artists at the studio...
at Abbey Road StudiosAbbey Road StudiosAbbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, 17 February 2005
- All music published by Chester Music Ltd./Michael Nyman Ltd., except 1, 4, 9, 16 published by Colpix Music Ltd., administered by SonySony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
/ATV Songs LLC (BMIBroadcast Music IncorporatedBroadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
)
- Photography by Michael Nyman
- Photograph of Michael Nyman by John Fago
- Design by Russell MillsRussell Mills (artist)Russell Mills is a British artist who was born in Ripon, Yorkshire, UK in 1952. He paints, creates multimedia installations, designs stage sets and lighting and has produced record covers and book covers for Brian Eno, the Cocteau Twins,Michael Nyman, David Sylvian, Peter Gabriel, and Nine Inch...
(shed) - Co-design by Michael Webster (storm)
- Thanks to Elizabeth Lloyd, Rachel ThomasRachel ThomasRachel Thomas OBE , was a Welsh character actress, well known to film and television audiences.Born in the village of Alltwen, near Pontardawe, Wales, she appeared in such classic films as The Proud Valley with Paul Robeson, Blue Scar and Tiger Bay...
, Rebecca Duncan at Whitfield Street Studios, Lucy Launder at Abbey Road, Gareth DaviesGareth Davies (singer-songwriter)Gareth Davies was a founder member and principal songwriter in Suburban Vegetable, releasing five albums between 1990 and 1993, including the cult classics Organic and Censored Haircut...
, Laurence DunmoreLaurence DunmoreLaurence Dunmore is a graphic designer and film director whose first major collaboration was the British production of The Libertine in 2005...
, Melane Mueller and Andrew Thompson.
- Thanks also to the directors of the respective films: Jane CampionJane CampionJane Campion is a filmmaker and screenwriter. She is one of the most internationally successful New Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by other countries, principally Australia – where she now lives – and the United States...
, Neil JordanNeil JordanNeil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...
, Akinora Nagaoka, Andrew NiccolAndrew NiccolAndrew M. Niccol is a New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director. He wrote and directed Gattaca, S1m0ne, In Time, and Lord of War. He also wrote and co-produced The Truman Show, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 1999 and won a BAFTA award for Best...
, Dziga VertovDziga VertovDavid Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
, Michael WinterbottomMichael WinterbottomMichael Winterbottom is a prolific English filmmaker who has directed seventeen feature films in the past fifteen years. He began his career working in British television before moving into features...
and lyricists Hachiro Konno and Roger Pulvers.