Dave Roach (soprano sax)
Celebrating his seventieth year, the prolific Michael Nyman’s Band is touring to Gateshead, Liverpool and Bristol, and stopped off at the Queen’s Hall to remind us of his prodigious talent and those of the Band’s.
Almost unavoidably associated with the films of Peter Greenaway, Nyman is nevertheless a significant composer in his own right, perhaps suffering from a similar set of assumptions to those that beset his near-contemporary Ennio Morricone, namely that ‘he only writes film scores’.
That said, the Band blasted off (almost literally) with the main theme from Greenaway’s ‘The Draughtsman’s Contract’ and continued through the first half of the programme to perform what, presumably, the bulk of the enthusiastic audience of a well-filled Queen’s Hall had come to hear, a well-chosen selection from Nyman’s back-catalogue of film music, superbly rendered by the Band.
The Band itself, for those unfamiliar with its present incarnation – there have been several changes since its inception in the late seventies – features violin, viola, cello, bass guitar, baritone, soprano and alto sax, piccolo, trumpet, french horn and bass trombone to produce a sound that is richly complex and provides a depth (sometimes in both senses) yet can also turn playful, lyrical or sombre at the change of a key.
Lacking any programme notes and not being familiar with all of Greenaway’s oeuvre, this reviewer is unable to offer a score-by-score account of all the works played, and offers an apology to any dyed-in-the-wool Nyman and/or Greenaway fans thereby feeling short-changed.
However, one hardly needed to fit into either of these categories to appreciate the musicianship that clearly entranced and delighted the audience. The Band very obviously enjoyed playing together, which in itself provides the catalyst for the tremendous reception they received after each piece and at the end of the performance. Nyman himself was an impeccably astute and occasionally avuncular leader, giving the players ‘all the right opportunities, in the right order’.
Edinburgh, in and out of Festival, enjoys some wonderful musical experiences, and that a goodly number of the audience at this concert were on their feet at its close is surely testimony in itself to the quality of the Michael Nyman Band.
Show times
Tour dates; Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, 25th April, Bristol Colston Hall, 28th April.