Michael Nyman - The heart asks pleasure first.

[presto agitato]

Hello

I know that Nyman's music is not your cup of tea, but I really like this piece.
May I know your opinion about it?

Thanks

[redbaron]

Michael Nyman's music is most certainly my cup of tea!

This is a really beautiful piece. It's actually quite tricky to play in places due to the fact that the melody and a good deal of the accompaniment are both in the right hand so some of the finger crossing can be quite fiddly when played at the requisite speed. It's a bit like one of those old perpetuum mobile pieces. I do really like this piece, it has a beautiful melody and a real sense of motion.

Then again most of Nyman's music is wonderful.

[redbaron]

Seems you were right about people here not liking Nyman's music!

Oh well. Their loss.

[presto agitato]

Seems you were right about people here not liking Nyman's music!

Yes. I told you... 

[nanabush]

Ooooh I love this piece!  My teacher lent me the book of his music from "The Piano", and I ended up learning this and playing it for an exam (I initially learned it because I really enjoyed it, and found out later you could substitute it for a study hehe)

I just like that it's a pretty technical piece, and not a 'boring' movie theme transcribed for piano.

I've already seen a thread of people ripping on Nyman because 'the notes are seemingly random, as if it was quickly composed', but stuff like the English Country Tunes by Finnissy is not?  Anyways, to each his own, but at least with The Heart asks Pleasure First, friends/family will enjoy listening to it.

[ch101]

definitely more of an informal piece

[mairsydoats]

I learned this piece last summer.  I find it really beautiful and expressive.  Maintaining the prominence of the melody was a challenge in some parts.

It's also good for getting your fingers going on a cold day.

[presto agitato]

More opinions?

[contrapunctus]

Well it's really badly played for one...bang bang bang. Where is the line in the playing? Accents lose their emotive power if every note is accented.

As for the music itself, it elicited no affective response probably do to the lack of complexity.

[djealnla]

Deleted

[floydcramerfan]

I liked the piece.  Fooey on the Simon Cals.

[contrapunctus]

If every note is accented, then there are no accents.

In the technical parlance I am used to with the group of musicians I am a part of, 'accent' refers more to sound quality, i.e. harshness. Therefore it is very possible to play every note accented, indeed this is a common error of amateurs. Also this is corroborated with the fact that many pieces have strings of accented notes in a row. I believe this is the normal usage of the word, at least it is a more nuanced view.

[redbaron]

As for the music itself, it elicited no affective response probably do to the lack of complexity.

Lack of complexity?

Get back to your Bach fugues.

[sordel]

Well it's really badly played for one...bang bang bang.

Ouch, that's the composer performing it. Actually, I'm amused at your criticism of him, because I saw him give a solo piano concert and he took a full, slow, low bow after every short piece as though he were the greatest pianist on earth, which he clearly is not.

I really like this piece (although my favourite from the soundtrack to The Piano is actually "Big My Secret"). It's important to bear in mind, though, that Nyman wrote the music to the film bearing in mind the technical and musical contraints to which the central character, Ada, might have been subject. Nyman himself was certainly able to compose more complex and demanding music than that: consider his Zoo Caprices for Solo Violin, for example. I believe that Holly Hunter performed the piano pieces shown in the film, so in this case the restricted difficulty level was to the benefit of the film makers.

I don't see, however, why ease of performance should be regarded as a weakness in any piece of music. There is a lot of beautiful music that is easy to perform, and there is a lot of complex music that is supremely tasteless.

[ragnarok]

I played that for a recital when I was 14 and it was a big hit. My teacher rather disliked it though - she complained that it was purposely written as if by an amateur and so was simplistic. The sheet music I have differs from the recording and is a bit odd, especially towards the end. I'm still not clear on what kind of style it's supposed to be. I'd say if you want to impress non-musicians, definitely go for it - they seem to love it, musicians not so much. Myself, I think it is a beautiful melody.

[sordel]

I'm still not clear on what kind of style it's supposed to be.

It's supposed to be academised folk: the melody is from a folk song by Robert Tannahill called "Gloomy Winter's Noo Awa" and the idea was that Ada would compose arrangements of folk music that she had heard.

There's a version of the original below.

On the subject of difficulty, I believe that for the solo part of The Piano Concerto Nyman attempted to make the piano line more virtuosic, but the simple version is much better than the concerted one.

[ragnarok]

Wow, thanks for the link, it's great to hear the original.

It's supposed to be academised folk:

I see. I have difficulty reading pop music and I remember having similar trouble with that piece, which is why I thought it must be a strange style.

[alsimon]

Wow many thanks for posting the original. Simply beautiful.

[pianowolfi]

I always liked this piece, and now I've heard the folk tune as well, thank you sordel, I didn't know that
I think it doesn't play a role if something is simple or complex, either it is good music or not, some people will like it, others won't. To link quality to simplicity or to link quality to complexity in itself is in my book...well, simplistic, either way.

Beethoven wrote "Adagio molto, semplice e cantabile" above one of his most simple and most complex compositions