Commissioned by the Eos Orchestra, 'Manhatta' is a a ten-minute piece meant to accompany the 1921 silent film of the same name, directed and photographed by Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler.
Nyman composed the work as a multi-track piano score which he performed solo a number of times. This video features an orchestration by Andy Keenan which conforms to the instrumentation of Nyman's band. Keenan later re-orchestrated the music for the new music ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars in 2006. Nyman later constructed two additional pieces from the film score including an arrangement for solo bass clarinet and a duet for soprano voice and bass clarinet.
Audio created in Sibelius using the NotePerformer sound engine.