8 Lust Songs: I Sonetti Lussuriosi

Album review

Michael Nyman's 8 Lust Songs comes with a Parental Advisory warning for explicit content, but the songs are in Italian, so only a small number of Italian speakers in the English-speaking world will have the opportunity to be offended (unless, of course, you read the translations in the booklet). Nyman describes the settings of these explicit sixteenth century poems by Pietro Aretino -- essentially bedroom dialogues between lovers -- as a natural progression in his work, which, since his days as a student, has frequently been concerned with sex. He deals with the texts so abstractly that the music itself isn't at all salacious and there's no descriptive tone painting going on. Nyman further distances the listener from the content of the poems by having a single vocalist, in this case, the extraordinary Marie Angel, sing the parts of both the man and the woman. That decision defuses the erotic energy that could have come from using a pair of singers in a naturalistic way. The result is one of Nyman's most dynamic and engaging scores for voice. He gives full rein to his minimalist tendencies, but he's not a slave to repetition, and there's genuine development in the songs. His vocal writing is wrenchingly intense and deeply expressive. There's a sameness in the dense, driving accompaniment (by the Michael Nyman Ensemble) that may be wearing to the listener who doesn't give the songs enough focused attention to discern the variety that's here, but, as is the case with the best minimalist-inspired music, close listening reveals real depth and subtlety. Marie Angel's voice is like a force of nature: primal, penetrating, sometimes a little frightening in its power, and gorgeously free. Fortunate are the contemporary composers for whom she has been an advocate and to whom she has dedicated her considerable gifts. The sound tends to favor the instruments, as is often the case in Nyman's own recordings of his work, but it's obviously the balance the composer wants.

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