i agree he's pretty easy-going and easy to like—doesn't mean Infra wasn't one of the best damn things i heard last year. also played Songs from Before the other day and it held up nicely.
― ilxor running, w/ laptop in hand, checking ILX as he sprints (ilxor), Monday, 9 May 2011 17:02 (twelve years ago) link
I'm listening to Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi's Four Seasons and I think I love it. It's very Max Richter-y, that's for sure.
― carl agatha, Monday, 22 October 2012 14:51 (eleven years ago) link
i've been listening to the four seasons thing too and i'm pretty in love w. it
― personal yeezus (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 June 2013 22:36 (ten years ago) link
c# major otmI find it frustrating that his music has become the token "new music" programming choice for many ensembles, but hey, whatever sells tickets I guessI said "frustrating" because it frustrates me, some more invested new music people get livid at the mere mention
― align="justify" font="ancient" (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 20 June 2013 22:55 (ten years ago) link
being a dilettante has its advantages
― personal yeezus (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 June 2013 22:58 (ten years ago) link
I'm a rap dilettante but that doesn't mean I like Dan Black
― align="justify" font="ancient" (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 20 June 2013 23:32 (ten years ago) link
i don't know who that is
― personal yeezus (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 June 2013 23:53 (ten years ago) link
He's a guy who "recomposed" Hypnotize
― align="justify" font="ancient" (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 21 June 2013 01:04 (ten years ago) link
i really wish i hadn't googled that
idgi do you think richter's recomposed thing sucks musically or is it just he's too pop or getting too much attention or not like TRV KVLT klassical or what?
― personal yeezus (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 June 2013 01:27 (ten years ago) link
I'm a classical dilettante and entirety-of-music wise I like pretty much everything with little discernment, but I really can't stand the 'nice' areas of modern classical. To a completely unreasonable degree. I'd like to punch Arvo Part right on his big bald head. I think I have anger issues.
― Fanois och Alexander (Merdeyeux), Friday, 21 June 2013 01:52 (ten years ago) link
hmmm i think it's best if i go back to not reading or knowing anything abt classical music
― personal yeezus (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 June 2013 02:01 (ten years ago) link
ha, no don't listen to me, I'm just a ridiculous bigot on this matter.
― Fanois och Alexander (Merdeyeux), Friday, 21 June 2013 02:06 (ten years ago) link
I have no problem with poppy classical music! And "getting too much attention" doesn't compute for me either, seeing as when it comes to something as fringe as new chamber music, getting asses in seats trumps all, afaic. If I were curating a new music festival in like Pittsburgh I'd probably program his stuff for that reason alone.
But it's not for me, not at all. His music seeks to evoke only the most basic emotional response to the point that I suspect he might be a cynic. And the Recomposed piece reminds me too much of late 20th-c chamber music that reworks source material under the guise of 'legitimizing' or 'updating'. So-called post-modern composers who don't understand that recontextualization works best when it creates dissonance? or something at least new? Recomposed is imho an exemplar of a worthless piece of post-modernity, as there's nothing of what's good about new music in it, and nothing of what's good about Vivaldi in it, and there's nothing new created. But like I said, just because I generally don't like his music doesn't mean I don't respect the guy, there is literally no living composer of chamber music who doesn't have something about them I admire, even if that admiration is limited to the fact that they produce work.
― align="justify" font="ancient" (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 21 June 2013 02:12 (ten years ago) link
I mean, I don't listen to Pärt but I'd probably let him buy me dinner before I thought about punching him
― align="justify" font="ancient" (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 21 June 2013 02:13 (ten years ago) link
so thats him on 'the leftovers' huh
― am0n, Wednesday, 13 August 2014 21:17 (nine years ago) link
news just in :
One of Britain’s leading contemporary composers has written what is thought to be the longest single piece of music ever to be recorded. SLEEP is eight hours long – and is genuinely intended to send the listener to sleep.
“It’s an eight-hour lullaby,” says its composer, Max Richter.
The landmark work is scored for piano, strings, electronics and vocals – but no words. “It’s my personal lullaby for a frenetic world,” he says. “A manifesto for a slower pace of existence.”
SLEEP will receive its world premiere this September in Berlin, in a concert performance lasting from 12 midnight to 8am at which the audience will be given beds instead of seats and programmes. The eight-hour version will be available as a digital album, and for those who prefer it, a one-hour adaptation of the work – from SLEEP – will be released on CD, vinyl, download, and streaming formats, all through Deutsche Grammophon, on 4 September.
― mark e, Wednesday, 17 June 2015 10:15 (eight years ago) link
what is thought to be the longest single piece of music ever to be recorded
ummmm
― fuck me, archipelago (Simon H.), Wednesday, 17 June 2015 13:11 (eight years ago) link
i too wondered about that.
even with my ltd knowledge, there is the flaming lips track,7 skies h3, that easily breaks 8 hours ..
― mark e, Wednesday, 17 June 2015 13:13 (eight years ago) link
Have been listening to the eight and a half hour version the last few nights (and days). Epic and absolutely beautiful.
― groovypanda, Wednesday, 16 September 2015 08:22 (eight years ago) link
Have been loving the short version, 'From Sleep', so have taken the plunge on downloading the 8-hr version.
The stream of the liver 8-hr performance is available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06db5tv
― as verbose and purple as a Peter Ustinov made of plums (James Morrison), Thursday, 1 October 2015 03:39 (eight years ago) link
they played part of it on a liver?
― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Sunday, 25 October 2015 23:48 (eight years ago) link
oh, they got a liver to play it
anyway i decided to sleep to 'sleep' last night and this morning i feel very refreshed!
― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Sunday, 25 October 2015 23:49 (eight years ago) link
it's very weird to be able to say: yeah, i guess this piece of music is fit for purpose
so is there some nefarious or otherwise method of downloading this?
― écorché (S-), Thursday, 29 October 2015 02:53 (eight years ago) link
You can legit get it from iTunes for £25 which is pretty steep I think.
― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Thursday, 29 October 2015 03:04 (eight years ago) link
Do you mean the BBC live version? Try get_iplayer from https://squarepenguin.co.uk/ (it's freeware, only downloads radio programs if, like me, you're outside the UK)
― as verbose and purple as a Peter Ustinov made of plums (James Morrison), Thursday, 29 October 2015 03:34 (eight years ago) link
I looked yesterday and its no longer on iPlayer - only available for 30 days.
― koogs, Thursday, 29 October 2015 07:02 (eight years ago) link
why would the usual nefarious means of downloading it not work
― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Thursday, 29 October 2015 10:11 (eight years ago) link
listened to it again the next night, by the way: it 'worked' but i had less ~feelings~ about it, and i enjoyed the at-length ambient reprise of the opening piano way, way less. also i now keep expecting guy to actually start playing the aria from the goldberg variations on the first track, so, yeah, idk. the night after that i listened to susanne sundfor, which did not benefit my sleep; last night i had no music at all, and dreams sufficiently emotionally draining that i couldn't face getting out of bed for a good while after i woke up.
― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Thursday, 29 October 2015 10:13 (eight years ago) link
i guess this record is very typical of richter's sound but it's prob the pinnacle of his career i think, after a few listens to the 8-hour version. some of it is just jaw-dropping.
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 10 November 2015 21:29 (eight years ago) link
i have fell asleep to this several times. i have absolutely nothing to say about it except that the first 20 minutes is pretty good. i'm assuming he put a lot of effort into that first track because it's the only one a lot of people will hear
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 10 November 2015 21:47 (eight years ago) link
i like music for sleep now and again but i would never put on something i knew was 8 hours long. i've been listening while i'm awake to make the world feel more soporific.
i really like the religious feel of some of it.
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 10 November 2015 21:52 (eight years ago) link
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, November 10, 2015 9:47 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
lol yeah
i'm ... not convinced this is actually good in any other context
― thwomp (thomp), Wednesday, 11 November 2015 00:22 (eight years ago) link
by virtue of the fact it's music, I am fairly sure its main purpose won't be putting it on to aid sleeping, not least since you wouldn't hear most of it, as mentioned, but ymmv. I can think of music that I'd rather sleep to, there's actually quite a lot going on in this.
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 11 November 2015 08:21 (eight years ago) link
i'm on a big ambient kick so gave this a try. not familiar with richter otherwise. finding it oppressive and bland.
― mattresslessness, Thursday, 12 November 2015 23:50 (eight years ago) link
pointless generic heaviness, the musical equivalent of unisom. sitting through church.
― mattresslessness, Thursday, 12 November 2015 23:54 (eight years ago) link
it definitely isn't ambient
― doing my Objectives, handling some intense stuff (LocalGarda), Friday, 13 November 2015 00:17 (eight years ago) link
trying to come to terms with / wrap my head around this is like ODing on STARS of the LID in total bliss
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 13 November 2015 03:41 (eight years ago) link
So ... buy the single CD version, the eight CD version or buy something on Erased Tapes?
― djh, Wednesday, 16 March 2016 21:30 (eight years ago) link
Kind of surprised with myself for not buying this (in any format). Think I'm slightly put off by the novelty. Does anyone really like it?
― djh, Friday, 3 June 2016 22:03 (seven years ago) link
Live show at Blenheim Palace, in June:
http://serious.org.uk/events/max-richter-ensemble-1
― djh, Sunday, 29 January 2017 01:33 (seven years ago) link
Sleep is a great album. I keep listening to it.
― brotherlovesdub, Sunday, 29 January 2017 03:31 (seven years ago) link
Waking up for the last hour of Sleep is pretty nice.
― spastic heritage, Sunday, 29 January 2017 04:57 (seven years ago) link
The album release of Woolf Works has been timed to coincide with the stage revival:
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22783-three-worlds-music-from-woolf-works/
I saw it last night and it's rather lovely. The Pitchfork review of the soundtrack gets it about right.
― Bubba H.O.T.A.P.E (ShariVari), Friday, 3 February 2017 20:53 (seven years ago) link
Yes, that review is fairly spot-on.
― djh, Monday, 6 February 2017 23:34 (seven years ago) link
What film/TV work is his is best? I have the proper albums, but haven't listened to any of his scores yet.
― spastic heritage, Tuesday, 7 February 2017 02:12 (seven years ago) link
(Completely messed up the wording there, but you know what I meant.)
― spastic heritage, Tuesday, 7 February 2017 02:13 (seven years ago) link
I've yet to hear a single pop-cum-classical blend that transcends generic millennial prettiness™. If anything, Richter is among the worst offenders: his recontextualizations are utterly gratuitous, a pot pourri of 'greatest hits for strings and a wistful piano, from the baroque to the post-Khrushchevian… over a bed of bleep-bloopy sounds indicative of our undying postmodernism!' At their best, his models are far more compelling, especially the Eastern Europeans (barring a name or two, I've little patience for NYC's repetitive music scene). Unfortunately, however, Richter appears to have a preference for Pärt & co.'s laziest gestures, which does a disservice to all involved.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 12 February 2017 15:27 (seven years ago) link
If I really enjoy his music but don't know enough to critically break down the parts, does that matter? If it sounds good to me, does it need to do anything else?
― brotherlovesdub, Sunday, 12 February 2017 18:52 (seven years ago) link
I love this guy. I don't spend a lot of time analyzing his music, though; it mostly just sounds great when I'm writing / working / reading / getting sleepy
― Wimmels, Sunday, 12 February 2017 19:57 (seven years ago) link
pomenitul what are the barred names? asking for serious
― adam, Sunday, 12 February 2017 20:41 (seven years ago) link
Pomenitul - I'm intrigued ... I'd (genuinely) love to hear some recommendations. (This is completely non-snarky ... Over on the "classical music you buy from Boomkat" thread, I have wondered about the idea that there might be *better stuff* that I'm missing).
― djh, Monday, 13 February 2017 21:40 (seven years ago) link
Some album suggestions—
Conventionally pretty, melodically-oriented 'classical' music from the past 50 years or so:
Ole Buck, LandscapesVictor Kissine, Between Two WavesAlexander Knaifel, Svete TikhiyKate Moore, Dances and CanonsOctavian Nemescu, Musique pour réveilHans Otte, Das Buch der Klänge (Herbert Henck)Arvo Pärt, Tabula rasaDoina Rotaru, L'éternel retourValentin Silvestrov, Piano Sonatas & Cello Sonata (Alexei Lubimov & Ivan Monighetti)Howard Skempton, LentoToru Takemitsu, riverrun / Water-ways / Rain Coming / Rain Spell / Tree LineAnna S. Þorvaldsdóttir, In the Light of Air
Slightly further afield:
Hans Abrahamsen, SchneeJérôme Combier, GonePascal Dusapin, O Mensch!Sofia Gubaidulina, The Canticle of the Sun / Music for Strings, Celesta and Percussion (Mstislav Rostropovich, et al.)Saed Haddad, Les deux visages de l'OrientMarko Nikodijević, dark/roomsPer Nørgård, Works for Harp and EnsembleBent Sørensen, MignonHaukur Tómasson, Flute Concertos 1 & 2 / SkimaHelena Tulve, Sula
It goes without saying that there is infinitely more to contemporary 'classical' music, but since we're discussing Max Richter's output, I'd argue that these records broadly adhere to a more or less 'traditional' conception of aesthetic beauty (especially the former list). As a side note—and this is no coincidence—quite a few of them are from ECM's catalogue.
― pomenitul, Monday, 13 February 2017 22:23 (seven years ago) link
Thanks Pomenitul!
― djh, Tuesday, 14 February 2017 20:47 (seven years ago) link
You should definitely participate if we do another notated music poll!
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Tuesday, 14 February 2017 22:15 (seven years ago) link
Really enjoyed Richter at Blenheim Palace at the weekend, helped by the weather and wine (which induced a vague "being on holiday" feeling).
Got the impression that the crowd was split between people wanting to hear Vivaldi at Blenheim and those wanting to hear "Max Richter" (though I suppose there's some cross-over). A handful of people left when he started playing his own music. Standout track was "Tuesday" from Woolf Works. Someone sat along from us sobbed and sobbed through it.
― djh, Monday, 19 June 2017 21:25 (six years ago) link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08xypdv/the-royal-ballet-woolf-works
― djh, Tuesday, 11 July 2017 19:46 (six years ago) link
Excellent!
― Wag1 Shree Rajneesh (ShariVari), Tuesday, 11 July 2017 19:48 (six years ago) link
Oh wow, thanks for the heads up!
― Le Bateau Ivre, Tuesday, 11 July 2017 19:53 (six years ago) link
Have watched about half of it, so far. I'm intrigued as to how it is viewed as a "ballet" as distinct from a "Max Richter score".
― djh, Thursday, 20 July 2017 23:39 (six years ago) link
New music video for 'On the Nature of Daylight':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InyT9Gyoz_o
― ArchCarrier, Friday, 22 June 2018 09:50 (five years ago) link
i think if i were a Serious Composer i would still be bitter about film scores having ever been a thing
― j., Friday, 23 November 2018 02:51 (five years ago) link
x-post: can't stand that video for "On The Nature of Daylight". Feels like misery porn.
― djh, Saturday, 24 November 2018 19:40 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIQf3lw4INA
― Maresn3st, Monday, 7 December 2020 14:03 (three years ago) link
It's probably a laughable giant cliche that makes me a boring predictable shithead, but I play this album for my daughter to sleep to every night. She loves it. She'll now tell Alexa to put it on when she's ready for bed.
The clip posted above is actually the only section she doesn't like. If she hasn't fallen asleep by the time that section comes on she has to skip it. Kind of creepy / scary sound for something occurring in the middle of sleep.
― brotherlovesdub, Monday, 7 December 2020 17:05 (three years ago) link
I must admit I'm intrigued as to where his/his partner's Oxfordshire studio is ... on the site of an old llama farm, apparently (which made me think the bottom of Cumnor Hill).
― djh, Tuesday, 5 July 2022 20:01 (one year ago) link