Out today, SLEEP: Tranquility Base is an EP of new music, returning to Max’s ground breaking 8-hour lullaby for a frenetic world.
‘A look at the material from a more electronic standpoint, this is a chance for me to see what this music means to me now, in this moment…
‘SLEEP is a kind of counter argument to what’s going on in the world. It’s a sort of alternative proposition to how things could be or how things are… towards the world we’re living in and helps to shine a light on the things we can do better.
The original thing which made us want to make this piece was a sense of being oversaturated – with data, with information – overstimulated… All of that is just worse now, there’s more of the same – much more of the same – and that makes the piece continually relevant’.
Today, Yulia and I have announced Free & Equal Vol. 1, an EP raising money for Médecins Sans Frontières.
Tracks from Duval Timothy, CHAINES, cktrl, Hannah Kendall and more were all recorded here at Studio Richter Mahr. It was a joy to see into their creative worlds.
Join us on Human Rights Day, Saturday 10th December at KOKO in London to celebrate the release.
Continuing his collaboration with award-winning choreographer Wayne McGregor, MADDADDAM is a new ballet co-commissioned by the National Ballet of Canada and the Royal Ballet.
Inspired by a dystopian triptych of novels by author Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood and MaddAddam, themes of extinction and invention, hubris and humanity are spliced together with aspects of Atwood’s activism and her deep connection to the Canadian landscape, past and present.
The ballet premieres in Toronto 23rd – 30th November.
For my last performance of the year, I’m taking Recomposed back to where it all began, ten years ago.
It was in my studio in Mitte that I first worked on recomposing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and in Pankow where we recorded the record in 2012 with Daniel Hope.
So it feels special and apt that my final live concert for its anniversary year should be in Berlin.
I’ll also be joined by violinist Elena Urioste, who recorded The New Four Seasons, released earlier this year.
I hope to see some of you there.
Max
Repertoire
Infra for Strings Recomposed – Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Max performs two special shows exploring ambient music through the orchestra, including pieces never performed before in the UK.
Exploring the idea of the orchestra as a medium for ambient music, rather than electronic instruments, Max has selected pieces that create space to reflect on ideas and feelings. It’s this intersection between the music and the listeners’ biographies that Max is interested in – the way a musical performance becomes conversational.
The repertoire features six pieces of live music, three being UK premieres – Exiles, Opus 2020, and Testament. Max Richter will be joined by a specially expanded line-up of 12 Ensemble – who’ve previously performed with him at 2018’s Sounds and Visions weekend, alongside Soprano Grace Davidson.
A decade on from the release of his mesmerising Recomposed album, Max has returned to the sound world of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in The New Four Seasons.
Recorded with violinist Elena Urioste and the musicians of Chineke! Orchestra, this new recording sees Max create a reworked version of his Recomposed score for period instruments –using gut strings and vintage synthesisers to create a “grittier, more punk rock sound”.
Max will perform Recomposed with Chineke! Orchestra at Chelsea Hospital as part of Live at Chelsea on 16th June 2022. This is the only chance to see Max performing the work in the UK this year. Buy tickets here.
Having performed Recomposed live many times in the last decade, Max was inspired to create a special rendition of the work on period instruments to take “a new trip through the text using Vivaldi’s own colours”. The New Four Seasons applies a Baroque palette to the score in which he transforms or subverts fragments from the original four violin concertos; spinning them into different shapes and colours and placing them in different orchestral settings. He has revisited the electronics too – opting for Moog synths from the 70s –“the equivalent of the Stradivarius”. Asked about the difference in sound between modern and period strings, he laughs: “I heard someone say it’s the difference between smooth peanut butter and crunchy peanut butter, which encapsulates it really well!”
At this concert, Max will also perform VOICES. Created in collaboration with artist Yulia Mahr and narrated by Imtiaz Dharker, the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights in dozens of languages is read over a radically reimagined “negative orchestra” heavy on basses and cellos, a musical metaphor of the world turning upside down.
Performers Max Richter Matthew Lynch, conductor, VOICES Laura Ayoub, violin Imtiaz Dharker, narrator Grace Davidson, soprano Chineke! Voices Chineke! Orchestra
Welsh & German premiere of VOICES: a soundtrack to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Following Max Richter’s return to the stage in London for a sold out performance of VOICES at Crystal Palace Bowl, comes a festival co-curation and a series of performances featuring a range of projects from his pioneering catalogue.
These live dates follow a busy Spring/Summer, which has already included releasing the albums VOICES 2 and EXILES… with more projects to follow before the end of the year.
REFLEKTOR 2021 Max Richter and Yulia Mahr are thrilled to announce the programme for their latest festival bill. Following in the footsteps of previous curators such as The National’s Bryce Dessner and Nils Frahm, the musician and multidisciplinary artist have selected a range of acts from around the world to join them in Hamburg from October 6th-10th.
The event takes place in the glorious Elbphilharmonie concert halls, and will feature performances from Max, a new installation by Yulia Mahr, plus Jlin, Portico Quartet, Sarah Davachi, Shida Shahabi, Daniel Brandt, Starry Sky Cycle, Julius Eastman, Kali Malone, Pamela Z, Jason Moran & Christian McBride, and the American Contemporary Music Ensemble. https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/festivals/reflektor-max-richter/692
SLEEP LIVE STREAM Fans around the world are invited to lay back and experience SLEEP together when Max performs the piece live overnight in Hamburg on October 6th. Tickets for this special online audio/visual stream go on sale on September 20th. https://www.elbphilharmonie.de/en/whats-on/live-stream-max-richter-sleep/16987
WELSH VOICES PREMIERE WITH BRIAN ENO AND KELSEY LU VOICES will be part of the aptly-named Voices Festival in Cardiff on November 4th. The event takes place at the Wales Millennium Centre, and alongside the first UK performance outside of London, will be a special reading from Brian Eno and a performance by the mesmeric singer & cellist Kelsey Lu. Sinfonia Cymru, the UK’s leading under-30s orchestra, will perform VOICES with a special narrator to be announced. https://www.wmc.org.uk/en/festival-of-voice
FULL LIST OF LIVE DATES September 20th – Roma Europa Festival – Blue Notebooks & Recomposed (Tickets)
October 3rd – Berlin Konzerthaus – Infra & The Leftovers (Tickets) 6th – Hamburg Elbphilharmonie – Sleep (Tickets) 8th – Hamburg Elbphilharmonie – Recomposed (Tickets) 9th – Hamburg Elbphilharmonie – Infra for Strings (Tickets) 10th – Hamburg Elbphilharmonie – Infra & Voices (Tickets)
November 4th – Cardiff Festival of Voices, Wales Millennium Centre – Infra & Voices (Tickets)
Studio Richter Mahr is thrilled to reveal the new video for ‘Flowers of Herself’ from Max’s new album EXILES.
To mark the release of Max Richter’s latest album EXILES, the celebrated composer and “musician of the moment” (Financial Times) is releasing a new music video for the opening track ‘Flowers of Herself’. Originally written for the critically-acclaimed Virginia Woolf-inspired ballet Woolf Works (Wayne McGregor’s ballet triptych created for The Royal Ballet in 2015),this rhythmically complex piece was heard earlier this year soundtracking Fendi’s spring/summer 2021 fashion show in Paris, with Kate Moss, Demi Moore, Naomi Campbell and Cara Delevingne among the supermodels on the runway – watch HERE.
‘Flowers of Herself’ soundtracks the opening 5 pages from Virginia Woolf’s 1925 opus Mrs Dalloway. Max Richter said, “‘Flowers of Herself’ is about the energy of going through a bustling city. The piece has this perpetual motion a little bit like if you’re walking down the street, you’ll see a bus then you’ll see another bus in a different space so there’s a shifting of perspective. ‘Flowers for Herself’ is a celebration of London, the orchestra emulates a busy, vibrant city, fuelled by excitement and pace.”
Watch Max talk about the track
For the video, Studio Richter Mahr challenged three young filmmakers to follow in Mrs Dalloway’s footsteps across London to ‘buy the flowers herself’ from Westminster across St James’s Park and onto Bond Street. Samuel Recko shot London streets in Super-8 on a skateboard, Annick Wolfers paints the city as colourful and ethereal and Sebastien Rabas takes a documentary style approach in black and white. Illustrator Sabina Dallu contributed additional animations.
Flowers of Herself, composed for large orchestra with electronics, is featured alongside expanded versions of other beloved Richter tracks: ‘The Haunted Ocean’ from Waltz with Bashir; ‘Infra 5’ from Infra; ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ from The Blue Notebooks; and ‘Sunlight’ from Songs from Before – an album which David Bowie described as having “the power to produce tears when listened to in the right setting”.
Central to the new album is the title track, Exiles – a world premiere recording of Richter’s 33-minute work composed for Nederlands Dans Theater and choreographers Sol León and Paul Lightfoot. Profoundly moved by the tragedy of the migrant crisis, Richter explains the inspiration for the piece: “Reflecting on contemporary society, I decided to make a work on the universal subject of journeys. Many of us are lucky enough to be able to influence where we are going, but for an increasing number there are very few choices: the physical journey is a necessity in order for the journey forward through time to continue at all.”
The album was recorded in Tallinn with conductor Kristjan Järvi and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic – an orchestra that prides itself on fostering cross-border unity and artistic innovation.
EXILES is out now on Deutsche Grammophon – listen HERE
Credits
Directed by Studio Richter Mahr Edited by Matthias Maercks Produced by Sean Adams Animated text by Sabina Dallu https://www.sabinadallu.com
