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Michael Nyman – Michael Nyman (MN Records)

4 stars
Long before his soundtrack for Jane Campion's The Piano, Michael 
Nyman's very English form of baroque minimalism had impeccable art 
school credentials. Following his debut on Brian Eno's Obscure label, 
this 1981 follow-up five years later was produced by Flying Lizard and 
Nyman's former student David Cunningham.

On this handsomely packaged re-release, early scores for Peter 
Greenaway miniatures are jauntily insistent, while free jazz 
saxophonists Peter Brotzmann and Evan Parker skitter and splutter all 
over 'Waltz' like Teddy Boys at a tea dance. The lengthy 'M-Work', 
composed for a performance sculpture by Bruce McLean and Paul Richards, 
is a foreboding epic of contemporary classicism in exelcis on a 
valuable archive of a composer en route to defining his cinematic 
oeuvre.


The List, February 2012

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