Michael Nyman Memorial for Large Ensemble

Michael Nyman Memorial for Large Ensemble Sarah Leonard, soprano Michael Nyman Band Michael Nyman, conductor Gypsum: Antonio Canova, Hecuba and the Trojan women offer the peplum to Pallas Athena (detail), 17901792, Milan, Gallerie di Piazza Scala. Memorial is an epic funeral marchlike piece, composed by Michael Nyman around 19841985. Nyman explicitly dedicated Memorial to the memory of the Juventus F. C. fans killed in the Heysel Stadium tragedy, in May 1985. The composition borrowed a musical phrase from Baroque composer Henry Purcell s King Arthur, the prelude to What Power Art Thou, sung by the Cold Genius in Act III, but the phrase is repeated in countless times, in a minimalist fashion. The composition is dominated for the first twothirds by the string and horn sections, backed up by bass guitar, and a drummer. Soprano Sarah Leonard comes in only in the last third of section, and her performance mainly consists of long wordless complaints, adding a dramatic effect to the composition.