Michael Nyman – Michael Nyman Band

It’s funny, because the first time that I became aware of Michael Nyman’s music was when I heard the soundtrack to the Peter Greenaway film, A Zed And Two Noughts. I saw that movie and the music just blew me away and I had no idea what was going on, so I went out and bought that album. From there, I went out and discovered more about Michael Nyman.

I love the repetition and the little circular patterns and the sorta jerkiness of it. I didn’t know much about what people would call ‘contemporary classical music’, but I do like classical music and I’ve discovered that I like a lot of Handel. A lot of Michael Nyman’s stuff is quite reminiscent of Handel, with the jerkiness and the patterns and the way that Handel would write I really don’t know at all if Michael Nyman likes the music of Handel or is influenced by it any way. Maybe he’ll see this and think, what’s he talking about?

You talk about driving music and people will say, ‘Oh, Neu! are great for driving!’ but actually, I think this record by Michael Nyman is great driving music for a long journey. I stick this on and my mind goes wandering.