Customer Reviews

Nyman: The Piano Concerto; Prospero's Books; On the Fiddle

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This is an invaluable issue whether if you are a seasones nymanite or just willing to get to know the sound-world of this great contemporary composer. About the marvelous Piano Concerto the comparison with the Argo recording is inevitable. If that has a special authority , being conducted by the composer, I think that this recording is, as a whole, best suited to the the essentially romantic nature of the work, thanks to a less fiercely virtuosic pianist and a mellower, more refined sound, while the other one is somewhat tiresome for the ear after repeated listenings. "Prospero's Books" is another reworking of the score but, unlike the one made for the Nyman-Greenaway ddd compilation for Argo, retains the features of the original orchestration of the movie score. I think it's a real gem from the beginning to the end. A couple examples: in "Prospero's magic" you'll find the most perfectly accomplished example of the Nyman trademark style for strings: it's sweepingly propulsive and instantly compelling. In "Cornfield", instead, there are some of the most dreamy, haunting melodies Nyman ever wrote. "On the fiddle" is a three-movement piece for violin and orchestra made up from three different Nyman-Greenaway scores. It contains much beautiful music and its slightly more intimate character balances perfectly the more extrovert appeal of the other pieces. The RPO playing is first-class (especially the strings , so essential to Nyman's music) and the sound is excellent, full and vivid without being over-saturated. This is one of the most satisfying Nyman discs I have.

I agree with the previous review by Mr. Pietro. I have a few things to add.
The music from The Piano, reworked here, is like the ultimate Romantic concerto filtered through heaven knows how many prisms. It's Rachmaninoff meets Bruch meets Hollywood. The original recording was more dry and propulsive - take out the Rachmaninoff and substitute Prokofieff. This is richer and more expansive. Lyrical, yearning, full of sexy blooming life. It does go on a bit longer than it needs to but I can never turn it off.
The remaining pieces are fantastic. They constitute a kind of suite from the bizarre film "Prospero's Books", an indistinct commentary on The Tempest with a totally nude cast (except for John Gielgud who takes off all his clothes only part way through) - don't say I didn't warn you, and some other pieces.
My favorites of the seven pieces are the Miserere Paraphrase, a heart-grabbingly sad piece for soaring violin and strings drawn from his 1989 score for the film The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover, in which it appeared as a Miserere for boy soprano solo and accompaniment. Here the violin takes the place of the soloist and is just as piercing; Prospero's Magic, a fantastic motor figure in the orchestra out of which a chorale emerges, like some latter-day Bach contemplating a bigger and busier cosmos than Bach could have imagined; and Cornfield, in which the energy of Prospero's Magic is spread out and calmed into something strong, gentle, and almost like a blessing.
The RPO is a stepchild of London's many orchestras, but Carney brings out its impressive best. As a string player himself, he is able to get richness and light out of his strings, especially the violins - not usually the strong suit of London orchestras - that made me think of Karajan and Ormandy. I could imagine different approaches to some of this music, but none more satisfying.
The recorded sound, even on the iTunes version that I have been listening to, is excellent. If you think that movie music has to be cheesy or that 20th century serious music has to be nasty, this disc will set you straight in a way that will bring much pleasure, not the least of which will be listening to how eerily the Scottish touches in the last movement of the music from The Piano, played out with the golden power of the RPO brass, prefigure some of the scores for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies written much more recently.