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| 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.
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The inserts include a note from Nyman about the score and film.
