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Michael Nyman's latest tantrum

posted 13 years ago by TrevorAclea
6 replies | jump to latest

Those of you with long memories may recall Nyman scotching his chances for an Oscar for The Piano when he devoted his interview tour to dismissing every other composer working in movies (you know, the people who vote in the nominations ballot for that category) as talentless morons who didn't have an ounce of his intellect or instincts. Well, he's back at his prissy best this month:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/9253374/Composer-threat ens-to-withdraw-tax-after-latest-opera-rejected.html

Composer threatens to withdraw tax after latest opera rejected

A composer who wrote the award-winning score from the Piano has threatened to withdraw his tax from supporting British public institutions after the Royal Opera House refused to commission his latest work.

Michael Nyman, who has worked as a film composer for 30 years, complained he had proposed to stage a work in Covent Garden but had been rejected.

So, he mused: Maybe I should withdraw my tax from supporting such public institutions in 'my' country!

Nyman, who is widely known for his opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, told fans about the dispute on his public Facebook page.

In the third-person style customary on the social networking site, he wrote: Michael Nyman has just been informed that the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, will never commission an opera and will therefore spend whatever remains of his creative life without a single note of any of his operas, written or unwritten, represented on the stage of ANY opera house in the UK, EVER.

The irate artist later clarified: They ARE continuing to pay for new work, but not MY work.

Nyman, who now lives in Mexico City, has been supported by some of his 860 Facebook subscribers, who have rushed to condemn the decision.

The Royal Opera House have confirmed the work will not go ahead and said they take the commissioning of new works very seriously.

Kasper Holten, Director of Opera, Royal Opera House: In the end, you have to disappoint more people than you can offer commissions.

Having met with Michael Nyman, given serious thought to his suggestion, and having listened again to his operatic music in depth, we have decided that for us his musical language is not what we want to pursue in our next commissions.

This is of course not a dismissal of Michael Nyman as a composer in general, nor is it in itself a statement about the quality of his music, as such things can of course not be discussed objectively. In the end it is a question of taste, as with all artistic choices.

He went on to speculate that the perceived snub may have been the result of his appearance in the audience of Rigoletto in 1971, when he and a companion laughed throughout and added: Enough to kill a career as a composer I guess.

Still, maybe he'll have better luck if he ever turns one of his early works, the British soft porn flick Keep It Up Downstairs, into an opera.

"Security - release the badgers."

[–] gilbert_gumphrey 13 years ago

Interesting. I've always been so curious as to the level of being shocked that he wasn't nominated for The Piano...perhaps that's a good reason (surely the music not being good enough can't be it - that score is stunning!)

Either way...I dunno. If I was in his position, I'd probably be fuming and wanna tantrum everywhere too, but...yeah, when a celebrity does it, it looks kinda lame. He probably could've reacted better.

Having said that, I've also listened to some of his operas, and have to ask...why the hell wouldn't they want to commission them??? :P

[–] random_guy85 13 years ago

well....he has 860 facebook supporters so that will show them to mess with him

Heck is where you go to if you don't believe in Gosh

[–] gilbert_gumphrey 13 years ago

What part of that track Gloomy Winter was supposed to sound like The Piano? I listened to almost all of it and didn't hear any similarities.

[–] TrevorAclea 13 years ago

why the hell wouldn't they want to commission them??

Any particular reason why they should? They have a limited budget and a lot of options to choose from and he's hardly the only composer they've turned down. Even Bernard Herrmann could never get them to stage any of his operas (though at least he rewrote Moby Dick as a cantata).

Of course, the real punchline to Nyman's latest hissy fit is that his threat to withhold his tax is a spectacularly empty gesture when he lives in Mexico as a tax exile to avoid paying UK tax in the first place.

"Security - release the badgers."

[–] gilbert_gumphrey 13 years ago

Well...I had to listen to the first ten seconds of each, back to back, 3 times before I heard any similarity. I know I often say that about your plagarism comparisons, but usually with those, I hear the similarities and just don't care. Here...honestly, I think the two pieces are about as close as Batman and Sesame Street.

I didn't watch the interview...I believe ya that Nyman himself said he ripped that song. But I really just...don't hear it. If Nyman's being honest, than I say he did a helluva job hiding the comparisons.

[–] gilbert_gumphrey 13 years ago

No no, I'm saying I'm aware he's telling the truth, and that apparently there is a very large connection that I'm just not hearing. But honestly, I don't hear it. At all. Maybe it was just that version of the song or something, but honestly...for me, it was the biggest plagarism-stretch I've heard in a long time.

But hey, like ya said, lots of people have heard it, including Nyman himself. I'd love to read some opinions from other people on this board; or maybe it really is just my own ears that can't hear more than the most vague, passing similarity, much like how The Beatles kinda sorta sometimes sounds like Chopin :P