Michael Nyman Band Kwai Tsing Theatre Auditorium Ended last night The problem with a lot of film music is that, without the film, the music can hardly be of a great deal of interest. But Michael Nyman's film scores are different. The acclaimed English composer, who once sought to create 'the world's loudest acoustic street band', combines minimalist traits with influences from baroque to rock, folk to jazz. He has established a distinctive style of film music through his works with Peter Greenaway and other directors. And when Nyman brought his Michael Nyman Band to Hong Kong this weekend, local fans had a chance to see his mesmerising music performed live. The two nights had different programmes. The Friday concert began with Nyman playing piano excerpts of his music to Jane Campion's The Piano (1992). Then he led his band playing music from Greenaway's The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) and Prospero's Books (1991). These works include themes borrowed from English composer Henry Purcell, Scottish traditional songs (for The Piano) and Nyman's other projects, whose works have longer, more lyrical melodies. The performance had a raw energy, with its reedy saxophones, puffy brass and powerful strings, although the phrasing could have been more refined and Nyman's piano solo more reflective. The highlight of the concert was a screening of Dziga Vertov's 1929 silent Soviet film Man with a Movie Camera, with accompaniment from the band. Nyman's music for this, which premiered in 2001, serves as fitting commentary to the dazzling cinematic fireworks - split screen, animation, slow motion, superimposition and more - by which Vertov transformed documentary shots of Moscow, Kiev and Odessa into a celebration of film-making and urban life. The music works best towards the end, when boisterously pounding rhythm from the band pulsates along with a breathtaking montage on the screen.
