The End of the Affair [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] [Flame Coloured Vinyl]

by Michael Nyman

Overview

With his soaring romantic score for Neil Jordan's 1999 film adaptation of Graham Greene's novel The End of the Affair, Michael Nyman retained his place, already firmly established by his work on movies like The Piano, Gattacca, and Carrington, as one of the most sure-handed film composers of the '90s. His music for The End of the Affair beautifully reflects the full emotional range of Jordan's film, underlining with equal dexterity the passionate attraction between Greene's star-crossed lovers (exquisitely played by Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore), the pain of their inevitable separation, and the lurking menace of Fiennes' hateful jealousy. In one scene, the Fiennes character, a novelist, suggests that happiness is harder to write than unhappiness. But Nyman seems perfectly comfortable with both, contrasting the gentle piano melody of "Love Doesn't End" with the elegiac strings of "Sarah Dies." As you might expect from a period romantic drama, the score is dominated by violin -- there are an eyebrow-raising 24 violinists in the composer's Michael Nyman Orchestra -- but the music, like the film, nonetheless manages to avoid almost any lapses into melodrama. The soundtrack's producer, Cameron Allen, wisely decided against including any of the 1940s pop songs used in the film (Jo Stafford's "Haunted Heart" played a particularly significant role). This is not Nyman's best score, but it deserves the chance Allen gives it to stand on its own without superfluous supplementation. ~ Evan Cater

Product Details

Release Date:	02/25/2022
Label:	Music On Vinyl
UPC:	8719262019010
Rank:	101448

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Michael Nyman   Primary Artist
Rita Manning   Violin
Paul Martin   Viola
Everton Nelson   Violin
Alexander Balanescu   Violin
Steve Sidwell   Trumpet,Flugelhorn
Philip Todd   Sax (Alto),Sax (Soprano)
Cathy Thompson   Violin
Julian Leaper   Violin
Warren Zielinski   Violin
Mark Berrow   Violin
Bruce White   Viola
Chris Laurence   Bass
Kate Musker   Viola
Boguslav Kostecki   Violin
Tony Hinnigan   Cello
Jackie Shave   Violin,Orchestra Leader
Ian Humphries   Violin
Sophie Harris   Cello
David Theodore   Horn (English)
Nick Cooper   Cello
Mary Scully   Bass
Jonathan Snowden   Flute,Piccolo,Sax (Alto)
Mike Brittain   Bass
Nigel Barr   Bass,Tuba,Trombone
Dermot Crehan   Violin
William Schofield   Cello
Martin Elliott   Bass
Paul Willey   Violin
Jonathan Evans-Jones   Violin
Sonia Salny   Violin
Rachel Allen   Violin
Maciej Rakowski   Violin
Christopher Tombling   Violin
Ann Morfee   Violin

Technical Credits

Austin Ince   Engineer
Isobel Griffiths   Orchestra Contractor
Cameron Allan   Producer
Michael Nyman   Score,Composer