Buy it... if you can appreciate a crossover film score that merges the sensibility of classical piano performances with Michael Nyman's own, distinctive orchestral structures.

Avoid it... if you're interested in the score purely because of the hype generated by collectors of classical music, for Nyman's music is impressive in its technical precision but, like the film, lacks convincing warmth in a challenging environment.

Nyman

The Piano: (Michael Nyman) There exist films so concentrated in the socio-political message of their creators that they miss the mark because of just a handful of intentionally striking, high impact scenes that overshadow the rest of the story. One such entry is Jane Campion's Miramax hit of 1993, The Piano. While applauded to seemingly no end at the time, Campion's screenplay and direction brutally and blatantly conveyed a commentary about the societal roles of women in the 1800's and beyond, telling of a mute Scottish woman sold to be the bride of an Englishman in remote New Zealand. She speaks through her piano, which is refused and sold by the husband to an English neighbor who has "gone native" (so to speak) and no longer follows the norms of British culture. He buys the piano and the woman's services as a teacher, but unbeknownst to the husband, the new bride arranges to earn the keys on her piano back through sexual favors that eventually turn into a more complicated relationship. When the husband discovers this arrangement, he violently executes a scene of dismemberment that is so incredibly disturbing that the entirety of the remainder of the film is overshadowed by this one gory moment. Redemption does eventually come, but as an overall package, The Piano is ultimately too disturbing to enjoy repeatedly (full frontal nudity from Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel is, as you might expect, a mixed bag). Being that Hunter's performances on the piano are an instrumental aspect of the film (sorryÉ couldn't resist the pun), assisting in catapulting her to an Oscar win, the soundtrack is thus one of those source-like endeavors that sells extremely well on album. In the case of Michael Nyman's original music for The Piano, three million copies of the CD were sold in the ten years after its debut, maintaining extraordinarily strong crossover appeal to the classical market. Nyman waffled between vintage tones and the stylistic methodology of his own constructs for The Piano, mindful of both the normal classical and folk sound that would have informed the lead character's performances in the film but also striving to express that character's independence from society's accepted limits by allowing her to spontaneously perform in a manner contemporary to the film's making. Ultimately, what Nyman created is a work that resides very comfortably in the context of his own career, likely pleasing his own collecting base and that of Philip Glass, whose music is similar in many of its post-modern, minimalistic inclinations. If you expect much warmth to emanate from a tale as bittersweet as this one, however, think twice before believing the hype.

For the most memorable theme in The Piano, Nyman references the Scottish folk song "Bonny Winter's Noo Awa," gorgeously translated on piano in "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" and, with full orchestral accompaniment, "The Promise." The progressive slowing of the tempo of this piece in "The Sacrifice" is quite effective. A less melancholy identity for the primary character is explored mostly on solo piano in "Big My Secret" and "The Scent of Love," and the film's larger atmosphere is served by an elusive theme that inhabits Nyman's typical orchestral material of significant volume, from "A Wild and Distant Shore" to "Dreams of a Journey." This latter material, in its flowing string layers but deliberate pacing, seems once again like an odd cross between the styles of Patrick Doyle and Philip Glass. Undoubtedly, though, the highlights of The Piano come when Nyman's own piano performances (substituting for Hunter's performances on screen and in so doing adding some much needed flair for the album) are juxtaposed with the strings and saxophone solos throughout the score. These combination cues remind of Doyle's East-West in the best of ways. On the other hand, The Piano does stumble at times, and no cue in the score is as obnoxious as the bizarre saxophone handling in "Here to There," which unfortunately exists in between the score's best two tracks on album. The hazy dissonant shades of "Little Impulse" on strings and the stark adaptation of two other folk tunes in "The Fling" are also problematic. Distracting, too, are audio problems that still exist on the supposedly remastered version of the soundtrack released in 2004. Gain levels in "Dreams of a Journey" are so high that significant distortion is audible (the most major exhibit exists at 3:05) and an irritating warble can be heard at 0:50 into "To the Edge of the Earth." On an album for a score that demands close appreciation to the soundscape, such fundamental recording flubs are simply unacceptable. Nyman's score on the whole also suffers from a more nebulous detraction; it is beautiful without really conveying a convincing soul. The piano solos are often cold and Nyman's rhythmic orchestral structures do little to add warmth. The 10th anniversary edition takes portions of the tracks "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" and "The Promise," the two most engaging cues, and merges parts of them with a poorly edited cut in the middle and places this combination at the end of the product. Its highlights are lovely and, for classical piano enthusiasts, indispensable, but as a film score, The Piano struggles to involve the listener on anything more than a technical level. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download