Michael Nyman - Big My Secret | from The Piano OST https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Piano_(soundtrack) "In 1991, after the release of the soundtrack to Prospero’s Books, the fifth full length movie collaboration with director Peter Greenaway, Michael Nyman needed a little break from film scoring. After more than a decade of establishing one of the best composer-director relationships in the history of cinema, Nyman broke off with Greenaway when the director added electronic music over the composer’s score without consulting with him. In interviews following the release of the film Nyman was disillusioned: “‘I’ve been talking about Greenaway for seemingly my whole bloody life, and basically, I don’t want to talk about Greenaway because he never talks about me.” Nyman went back to working with his ensemble releasing an album of songs with Ute Lemper and writing orchestral works. His career could have been a continuation of relatively small commissioned modern classical work and scores to obscure films had he not received a fateful phone call from New Zealander director Jane Campion, asking him to write the score for her next film. So started the seed to what became the soundtrack to the film The Piano, one of the most romantic soundtracks in modern cinema, a sharp turn from Nyman’s signature style that accompanied Peter Greenaway films. The score Nyman wrote for Greenaway’s films spiked Jane Campion’s ear when she was looking for the critical element of music for her film The Piano. The aggressiveness of the repetitive patterns played by the horns and strings were as far removed from the mood she was looking for, but there was something else that appealed to her. Nyman was surprised by her interest, and she told him: “I don’t want any of that Greenaway sh*t”, but his ability to express an emotion with the smallest amount of notes was what she was looking for. Campion: “The music Michael wrote for The Draughtsman’s Contract had such clarity, voice and vision that I knew he was the person I needed. However, because my film was dominated by a piano, I didn’t want the driving-strings sound he’d used for Greenaway. He was stunned and told me they were his signature. I thought “Oh dear!” and asked, in the politest way possible, if he could try something different.” The script required a different approach than the one Nyman was used to with Greenaway. Ada, the film’s heroine, a by-choice mute Scot who is sold into marriage to a New Zealander, expresses her emotional world with her piano playing. Nyman: “I had to work out how she, a mid-19th-century woman, would do this. For a male composer with a history of minimalist writing at the end of the 20th century, finding that voice didn’t come easily.” But Nyman found that voice, and The Piano became a milestone in his career: “I was brought up in the minimalist school, thinking you don’t wear your heart on your sleeve. It’s a very formulaic approach, with structural disciplines that I find comfortable. However, The Piano expanded my repertoire. I have become much more spontaneous. All my subsequent soundtracks have been informed by the lyricism the film opened up in me. I might never have found it otherwise.” Coversart on streaming platforms: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2lOovVE Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/artist/coversart/1475897456 Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/artist/71521152 Tidal: https://listen.tidal.com/artist/16525089 Youtube Music: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwd0KPSDjP73Cju6Ib4wdWA Coversart on social media: https://www.facebook.com/CoversArtMusic/ https://www.instagram.com/CoversArtMusic/ #Coversart