Where Peter Greenaway always brought out the inventive and slightly perverse side of Nyman's musical character, Michael Winterbottom seems to do just the opposite. With Greenaway, Nyman always reflects the quirky and slightly amoral side to the characters, but for Winterbottom he provides a warm, glowing backdrop that suggests the people in his film are fundamentally good, but life gets in the way of that sometimes. Although the CD packaging makes much of Wonderland's success at the Cannes Film Festival, it's not a film that received wide exposure. It's look at the lives of ordinary people in London isn't exactly box office gold, but certainly a lot more real and interesting than many of the "realistic" dramas that Hollywood trots out (the work of Paul Thomas Anderson and other excepted).

For a film where its urban location is fundamental, it's quite surprising that Winterbottom requested a warm, orchestral score. One rather expects a film like this to be filled with a very much more modern style - something akin to David Arnold's work on Changing Lanes, or just contemporary urban music from the charts. While the Michael Nyman Band could never be described as a symphony orchestra, it sounds more like a modern chamber orchestra than ever for Wonderland; as with his more romantic scores of late, the music is string led, but with a prominent saxophone part on occasion. There is a warm density to the orchestration, sort of Georges Delerue does minimalism and certainly a long way from the glassy textures of Thomas Newman or open toned Americana of Randy Newman. Nyman himself performs the piano on several of the tracks on occasions when an even more intimate atmosphere is required.

Wonderland probably constitutes one of Nyman's most accessible scores to date, with several lovely melodies. I'm not entirely convinced that his music is "real" minimalism and sounds more like melody with cyclic accompaniment, but only a very close inspection of the development of the various themes and motifs would reveal its true nature. The aesthetic of pure minimalism can often yield quite tediously repetitive music, especially in the confines of a small, talky drama film where there isn't the room for the orchestration to grow and the composer must rely on altering his material in subtle ways that echo the drama and keep it interesting. However, with such a convincing dramatic landscape and some wonderful tunes, Wonderland is a superb album and an ideal entry to Nyman's music.

Rating ~

1. molly (2:53)
2. eddie (3:59)
3. nadia (2:56)
4. dan (2:19)
5. debbie (8:16)
6. bill (2:16)
7. eileen (3:42)
8. jack (6:02)
9. darren (2:33)
10. unnamed (3:41)
11. franklyn (3:08)

Total Time ~ 41:43