While the influences on
Michael Nyman's vocal music are transparent --
John Adams,
Louis Andriessen,
Philip Glass, with some Kurt Weill thrown in -- the synthesis he achieves is so strong and appealing that questions of originality become irrelevant. This CD includes two of his most attractive vocal works for solo voice and his own ensemble, the
Michael Nyman Band.
Nyman has a gift for apt text setting and for expansive bel canto melody that's especially evident in his Six Celan Songs, based on texts related to the Holocaust, written in 1990. The highly dramatic songs are astonishing in their musical unpredictability and volatility, but every unexpected turn feels absolutely right and completely satisfying. They are also gorgeously lyrical. The set receives a spellbinding performance by riveting contralto
Hilary Summers, whose impassioned singing demonstrates her exceptional dramatic sense.
Summers' powerful voice, which
Nyman keeps largely in the lowest register where it has a chilling whiteness, can also thrillingly soar into the stratosphere. The single-movement The Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi has a text by visual artist Mary Kelly.
Nyman made his setting to accompany an exhibit of Kelly's work based on the war in Kosovo. It's a less striking piece than the Celan Songs, and the performance by soprano
Sarah Leonard, while very fine, pales in comparison with
Summers'. Her voice is expressive, but somewhat grainy, a quality that's accentuated in contrast to
Summers' stark purity. The album is a testimony to
Nyman's gifts as a vocal composer and should be of interest to fans of post-minimalism. The instrumental ensemble sometimes seems loud in relation to the singer, but this is apparently the composer's intention, since he produced the album.