Music composed by Michael Nyman – Performed by The Michael Nyman Band

THE MUSIC

Michael Nyman is one of the great composers of music for film. He came to widespread public attention via his work with Peter Greenaway, providing music for a total of 11 films including The Draughtsman’s Contract, Drowning by Numbers and The Cook,The Thief, His Wife & her Lover. He has also worked extensively with Michael Winterbottom Wonderland, 9 Songs, The Claim, Neil Jordan The End of the Affair, Andrew Niccol Gattaca and he composed the unforgettable score for Jane Campion’s multiple award winning The Piano. He has been fortunate to work with directors who understand that music can add greatly to the overall impact of a film, directors who have allowed the music to have a solid presence in their films rather than simply act as background filler. Director Laurence Dunmore has wanted to work with Michael since he first heard his music in A ZED & Two Noughts. For Nyman, there’s a direct link back to his first major soundtrack The Draughtsman’s Contract as both films are 17th Century based, visually stunning, comedies of manners. Once again the composer & his long-standing band deliver a stunning score, rich in detail with driving, baroque influenced tunes counter-balanced by a series of haunting, elegiac melodies of the sort that has made Nyman’s work familiar to millions.

THE FILM

The Libertine is the film version of the celebrated Stephen Jeffreys play. Directed by Laurence Dunmore & starring Johnny Depp, John Malkovich & Samantha Morton, it tells the story of the 17th century Earl of Rochester (Depp), his friendship with King of England Charles II (Malkovich) & his affair with actress Elizabeth Barry (Morton). The Earl of Rochester was a legendary rake of the era & the film has been described as “outrageously sexy”. He managed to reconcile being a sensitive poet & a pornographer, was simultaneously a republican & friend of King Charles II & was passionately in love with both his wife & mistress. The film captures the sense of new possibilities at the dawn of the age of enlightenment. Distributed by Miramax & set to open in the UK in November & the US in December, it is already being talked of as a potential Oscar magnet.