Michael Nyman - Prosperos Books - OST (1991)

The soundtrack for Peter Greenaway's film Prospero's
Books is one of Michael Nyman's most ambitious
accomplishments. Where his previous film scores had
been obsessively minimalist and cleverly derivative of
past musical styles, Nyman's stylistic approach is
more varied and rather free, since many of these
pieces are settings of Shakespeare's song texts and
require a flexible approach. Though Nyman's
neo-Baroque minimalism is still present in such
instrumental pieces as the extended processional music
of Prospero's Magic and the sedate Cornfield, his
vocal pieces are entirely of a different character.
"Full Fathom Five" is given a lush, harmonic setting,
introducing an impressionist style that will be more
pronounced in later scores. "Where the Bee Sucks" is
similar, as the melody is wreathed in shimmering
harmonies and undulating figurations. In these songs,
Sarah Leonard's pure tone approximates the sound of a
boy soprano's voice, and was extremely effective in
the film when synchronized with the child actor who
played Ariel. The Masque is the major work on this
recording, a nearly operatic rendering of the wedding
scene for three sopranos in three different vocal
styles. Marie Angel, Ute Lemper, and Deborah Conway
sing the roles of Iris, Ceres, and Juno, respectively,
and the distinctiveness of their voices is not so
great as to prevent them from blending well in their
concluding trio.