Michael Nyman Band
| The Michael Nyman Band | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Campiello Band |
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres |
contemporary classical music minimalist music film scores |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Labels | Piano EMI/Virgin/Venture/Caroline Editions EG Jay Argo SLC Warner Bros. MN Music |
| Associated acts |
Balanescu Quartet John Harle Band Camilli Quartet London Saxophonic Michael Nyman Orchestra |
| Members |
Michael Nyman Andrew Findon David Roach Kate Musker Tony Hinnigan Simon Haram Martin Elliott Nigel Barr Steve Sidwell David Lee Cathy Thompson Gabrielle Lester |
| Past members |
Alexander Balanescu John Harle Elisabeth Perry Steve Saunders David Fuest Jonathan Carney Graham Ashton Clare Connors David Rix Richard Clews Marjorie Dunn Ann Morfee Bill Hawkes Katherine Shave Bruce White Nigel Gomm Georgina Born |
The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 production of Carlo Goldoni's 1756 play, Il Campiello directed by Bill Bryden at the Old Vic. The band did not wish to break up after the production ended, so its director, Michael Nyman, began composing music for the group to perform, beginning with "In Re Don Giovanni", written in 1977. Originally made up of old instruments such as rebecs, sackbuts and shawms alongside more modern instruments like the banjo and saxophone to produce as loud a sound as possible without amplification, it later switched to a fully amplified line-up of string quartet, double bass, clarinet, three saxophones, horn, trumpet, bass trombone, bass guitar, and piano. This line up has been variously altered and augmented for some works.
The band's first recorded album on a professional label was Nyman's second, the self-titled Michael Nyman (1981), which mostly comprised pieces written for the early films of Peter Greenaway. This album has yet to be released on compact disc. Another self-titled album (1995) has appeared as a promotional item compiling tracks from various other albums, and should not be confused with this one.
Along with soundtracks to Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract, Drowning by Numbers, and The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover, their 1980s output included The Kiss and Other Movements (which includes the titular art song; a song from Nyman's projected Tristram Shandy opera; a tango; a movement from the same work as "Memorial" as used in Greenaway's 26 Bathrooms; and a performance of music (not the original soundtrack) from Greenaway's Making a Splash) and the modern dance work And Do They Do. They also made a limited edition recording of Nyman's La Traversée de Paris in 1989; many of its individual movements were soon to be dismantled, revised, or simply transplanted whole, to serve as the soundtrack for Greenaway's Prospero's Books (1991). Conversely, Nyman composed music for another adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, the ballet-opera Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs, soon after Prospero's Books, some of which was dervied from La Traversée de Paris.
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