Karen and I went to a Michael Nyman concert last night.
Nyman hovers between pop and serious in an interesting way. He has performers who have music on stands, playing violins, flutes, piano, trombone etc, and who bow at the end. They don't come back to do a few more numbers if you go on clapping at the end. They play sitting down. He conducts. On the other hand, they play short "tracks" and people clap at the end of each one (like a pop concert) and not just at the end of the overall "piece". And he had some video in the background. The music itself has a serious sound because of the instruments used, but in terms of form, is probably more like prog rock. A lot of his stuff has been used for film music (e.g. The Draughtsman's Contract). I like it, anyway, and I had a good time, but wasn't sure if I was having a "pop concert" good time or an "orchestral" good time.
One part of the concert was music he wrote for the film Drowning By Numbers, based on Mozart. Then there was 50,000 Pairs Of Feet Can't Be Wrong, inspired by the Great North Run, with video.
And then finally, a setting of I Sonetti Lussuriosi: some very rude sonnets written in 1527 or so, to accompany some engraved drawings illustrating different sexual positions. Ancient porn. It was quite bizzarre, a soprano, singing in italian, in a very posh operatic style, words which translate as "what a hard **** you've got" and "help me back up on the bed, my head's hanging over the edge" etc. (A translation was available at the box office for those who cared to ask for it.) Apparently the Pope was most offended. In 1527.
