THE MICHAEL NYMAN SONGBOOK

'The Michael Nyman Songbook' is a collection of art songs by Michael Nyman based on tests by Paul Celan, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, William Shakespeare and Arthur Rimbaud. It was recorded as an album with Ute Lemper in 1991, and again as a concert film in 1992, under the direction of Volker Schlöndorff, again with Ute Lemper, though many of the musicians had changed. The songs have been recorded by others and as instrumentals, and are published by Chester Music.

Contents
The Texts
The Music
The Album
Track listing
Credits
The Film
References
External links

The Texts


The texts are the poetry of Paul Celan in German, from the collections, ''Mohn und Gedäachtnis'' (1952), ''Von Schwelle zu Scwelle'' (1955), and ''Sprachgitter'' (1959), two letters and a 1787 Carnival riddle by Mozart in English for the segment by Jeremy Newsom of Artifax/BBC's ''Not Mozart'' titled ''Letters, Riddles, and Writs'', Ariel songs from ''The Tempest'' composed for ''Prospero's Books'', and ''L'Orgie Parisienne, ou Paris se Repeuple'' by Rimbaud. All save the Mozart are performed in their original language.

The Music


The songs are officially written for "low female voice". For ''Six Celan Songs'', Nyman specifically wrote the pieces for Lemper. "Corona" and "Blume" "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)." It was composed between May and July 1990. Nyman's mother passed on June 7, while he was writing "Blume", and he dedicated the cycle to her memory.[1] "I Am an Unusual Thing" "is based entirely on extracts from two of ''Haydn'' quartets."[2] ''L'Orgie parisienne'' is an extract from ''La Traversée de Paris''.

The Album


Performed by Michael Nyman, Ute Lemper, and the Michael Nyman Band.
Track listing

'Six Celan Songs' (Paul Celan)

★ 1. Chanson einer Dame in Schatten – 6.18

★ 2. Es war Erde om ohnen – 4.12

★ 3. Psalm – 3.35

★ 4. Corona – 6.08

★ 5. Nächtlich gerzchürt – 6.27

★ 6. Blume – 5.44
'Ariel Songs' (Shakespeare)

★ 7. Come and go – 3.15

★ 8. While you here do snoring lie – 1.06

★ 9. Full fathom five – 4.18
10. 'I am an unusual thing' (Mozart) – 5.18
'L'Orgie Parisienne' (Rimbaud)

★ 11. Allez! on préviendra les reflux d'incendie – 3.18

★ 12. Quand tes pieds ont dansé – 3.24
Credits


Ute Lemper, vocals

Alexander Balanescu, violin

Elisabeth Perry, violin

Clare Connors, violin

Michael McMenemy, violin

Kate Musker, viola

Tony Hinnigan, cello

Ruth Phillips, cello

Tim Amherst, double bass

Martin Elliott, bass guitar

David Rix, clarinet, bass clarinet

John Harle, soprano, alto saxophone

David Roach, soprano, alto, tenor saxophone

Andrew Findon, baritone saxophone, flute

Graham Ashton trumpet, flugelhorn

Marjorie Dunn, horn

Nigel Barr, bass trombone, euphonium

Michael Nyman, piano

David Cunnigham, producer

Michael J. Dutton, engineer

★ Chris Brown, assistant engineer

★ Philippe Garcia, assistant engineer

Ann Bradbeer, art director

David Smart, art director

Don Mousseau, executive producer; artist representative for Michael Nyman

★ Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London

★ Mixed at Kitsch Studios, Brussels

★ Mastering and editing at Transfermation and at Abbey Road
The album contains only one letter by Mozart, which is musically contiguous with the riddle after the song.

The Film


The film was shot at the Musikhalle, Hamburg, February 4, 1992, before a live audience nearly filling the room to capacity. It includes scenes from such films as Alain Resnais's ''Night and Fog'' and Olexandr Dovzhenko's ''Earth''.

Ute Lemper

Michael Nyman cpnductor, piano

Beverley Davidson, violin

Madeleine Mitchell, violn

Ann Morfee, violin

Catherine Musker, viola

Tony Hinnigan, cello

Justin Pearson, cello

Martin Elliott, bass guitar

David Rix, clarinet and bass clarinet

John Harle, soprano and alto saxophone

David Roach, soprano and alto saxophone

Andrew Findon tenor and baritone saxophone, flute, piccolo

Steve Sidwell, trumpet

Marjory Dunn, horn

Nigel Barr, bass trombone and euphonium
The film does not contain the "Ariel Songs", but includes an instrumental prelude, which is "Miranda" from ''Prospero's Books''.
The only cast credits on the film itself are to Ute Lemper and the Michael Nyman Band. The band members are credited (with Marjorie Dunn and Beverley Davison's names misspelled as above) in the order above in a booklet packaged with the videocasette and DVD. The DVD edition is coupled with ''Ute Lemper Chante Kurt Weill''.

References


1. Nyman's own liner notes, p. 4
2. ibid

External links



The Michael Nyman Songbook on IMDb

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