Michael Nyman Band, crossing the borders of music
Michael Nyman Band at the beginning of the concert. Madrid, Spain 2018. Photo: G. Serrano Edition: Patrick Maloney Leer en español It’s Sunday evening and as they are soon to start, some of them are spending a few minutes to drink a beer in a local bar. Friendly, uncomplicated, and good humored they seem used to the stage. Used to “the mechanism” —as he calls it— which still surprises and touches him. Inside the Symphony Hall at the National Auditorium the instruments will sound Olympic, martial as the Great War, sometimes as the black humor of Peter Greenaway. They are four strings, six brasses, one electronic bass and of course, the piano. They are just three women and nine men, twelve musicians in all. The audience focused, willing and ready to listen is —by now— completely “analogical”. Then, the violins carry drama to the extreme as their crying hurts and perseveres with every note . Each piece is an ode to an action which takes us to an epic battle, an under-const...