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- Michael Nyman
Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings (1995)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Written for Elisabeth Chojnacka
Programme Note
This Concerto was composed during the winter of 1994/95 for Elisabeth Chojnacka, who gave the first performance with the Michael Nyman String Orchestra on 29th April 1995 in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Its history is eccentric and cumulative. I had met Elisabeth in Paris about a year earlier while I was working on the soundtrack for Diane Kurys' film A la Folie (Six Days, Six Nights). I was attempting to persuade her to play my solo piece The Convertibility of Lute Strings (1992) but she expressed a passion only for tangos. As luck would have it, one of the cues of the Kurys score was what I fondly called a tango. Elisabeth showed interest in this and I subsequently turned it in to a harpsichord solo. Sadly, during the writing of the piece my friend the composer Tim Souster died tragically. Elisabeth's enthusiasm for Tango for Tim encouraged me to write the Concerto for her.
The Concerto is shaped as a very simple ABA form - the outer sections, derived from The Convertibility for Lute Strings, enfold an elaborated version of Tango for Tim. After the first performance, Elisabeth decreed that the true potential of the Concerto could only be fulfilled by the addition of a cadenza. This was duly composed in the summer of 1995 - a toccata derived from harmonies first heard in the immediate post-Tango for Tim, Convertibility material. (Elisabeth subsequently ordained that the cadenza could also have a life outside the Concerto as a concert piece if it had a few extensions added. Hence - inevitably, the title of the piece - Elisabeth Gets Her Way.
© Michael Nyman
The Concerto is shaped as a very simple ABA form - the outer sections, derived from The Convertibility for Lute Strings, enfold an elaborated version of Tango for Tim. After the first performance, Elisabeth decreed that the true potential of the Concerto could only be fulfilled by the addition of a cadenza. This was duly composed in the summer of 1995 - a toccata derived from harmonies first heard in the immediate post-Tango for Tim, Convertibility material. (Elisabeth subsequently ordained that the cadenza could also have a life outside the Concerto as a concert piece if it had a few extensions added. Hence - inevitably, the title of the piece - Elisabeth Gets Her Way.
© Michael Nyman
Media
Nyman: Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings: I.
Nyman: Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings: II.
Nyman: Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings: III.
Nyman: Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings: IV.
Nyman: Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings: V.
Nyman: Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings: VI.
Scores
Preview the score
Reviews
Written for Elisabeth Chojnacka, it alternates increasingly elaborate solo figuration with string ritornelli, which recall Messiaen, Copland and Tippett by turn…the concerto seems a major work, as Nyman follows his twin tracks of fulfilling his own musical aspirations while keeping the punters happy.
1st April 1995
Discography
20th Century Harpsichord Concertos
- LabelCedile
- Catalogue NumberCDR90000188
- ConductorScott Speck
- EnsembleChicago Philharmonic
- SoloistJory Vinikour, harpsichord
- Released2019
Michael Nyman - Concertos
- LabelWarner Classics
- Catalogue Number5099908475053
- ConductorMichael Nyman
- EnsembleBBC Symphony Orchestra / Philharmonia Orchestra / Michael Nyman String Orchestra
- SoloistJulian Lloyd Webber, cello; John Harle, saxophone; Elisabeth Chojnacka, harpsichord; Christian Lindberg, trombone
- Released2011
Michael Nyman - Concertos
- LabelEMI
- Catalogue Number7243 5 56487 23
- ConductorMichael Nyman
- EnsembleBBC Symphony Orchestra / Philharmonia Orchestra / Michael Nyman String Orchestra
- SoloistJulian Lloyd Webber, cello; John Harle, saxophone; Elisabeth Chojnacka, harpsichord; Christian Lindberg, trombone
- Released1997