Max Richter will perform music from ‘The Leftovers’ & SLEEP in his final concerts of 2019 in Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, Alte Oper in Frankfurt a.M., and Düsseldorf’s Tonhalle.
AD ASTRA | Max Richter Uses NASA Plasma Wave Data to Score Sci-Fi Drama
Composed in the summer of 2018, Max Richter’s Ad Astra score takes as its inspiration both the psychological dimension of its lead character, astronaut Roy McBride (Brad Pitt), as well as the physical journey he takes across space.
While developing his concept for the score Richter recalled NASA’s Voyager Interstellar Mission, launched in the late 1970s. He took the plasma wave data, detected and transmitted by the Voyager probes as they passed planets in our Solar System, and used this data (via a specifically commissioned virtual instrument) as an element in his writing. As Roy passes through space we hear probe data from the same locations being applied to the score.
Ad Astra, adds Richter, involves the marriage of music and science – Richter’s compositions lean heavily on his love of mathematics. But they are also characteristically moving. The score employs electronics, strings and vocals to intensify onscreen emotions, to mark transitions between Roy McBride’s inner and outer worlds, and build what Vanity Fair has praised as “a stunning kind of symphony” of sound and cinematic images.
Listen HERE:
WOOLF WORKS | The Guardian’s Best Dance of the 21st Century
Woolf Works, from Wayne McGregor and the Royal Ballet with music by Max Richter was included in The Guardian’s Best Dance of the 21st Century. See the full list HERE. The three-part ballet is based on the life and works of writer Virginia Woolf.
Listen to Three Worlds: Music From Woolf Works HERE.
TO THE STARS | Ad Astra
‘To The Stars’ is the first single from the forthcoming soundtrack to Brad Pitt’s eagerly-anticipated new movie, AD ASTRA. The track is released today via Deutsche Grammophon, to coincide with the film’s release in cinemas. Listen HERE.
A sci-fi thriller set in the future, AD ASTRA stars Brad Pitt as an elite astronaut who travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his missing father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet. His journey will uncover secrets that challenge the nature of human existence and our place in the cosmos. More info on the film HERE.
THE BLUE NOTEBOOKS | Guardian’s Best Classical Works of the 21st Century
The Blue Notebooks, Max Richter’s second album was chosen by The Guardian as one of the Best Classical Music Works of the 21st Century. LINK. The album was re-released in 2018 by Deutsche Grammophon. Listen to the album HERE.
AD ASTRA | Out Sept. 20th
Sneak peek of James Gray and Brad Pitt’s upcoming sci-fi drama Ad Astra, with music by Max Richter. The single ‘To The Stars’ will be released on Sept. 20th. More details on the film HERE.
VOYAGER: Essential Max Richter | Pre-Order
Now available for pre-order HERE.
On October 04, 2019, Deutsche Grammophon will release VOYAGER: ESSENTIAL MAX RICHTER. The 33-track collection will be available as a double CD and e-album and contains work from across Richter’s vast catalogue, including studio albums such as 2004’s acclaimed The Blue Notebooks (described by Pitchfork as “one of the most affecting and universal contemporary classical records in recent memory”), 2012’s Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons, performed by award-winning British violinist Daniel Hope and Berlin’s renowned Konzerthaus Kammerorchester; and 2015’s ground-breaking, eight-and-a-half-hour magnum opus, SLEEP. Two previously unreleased bonus tracks from Sleep are also included in this new edition.
MY BRILLIANT FRIEND | Vinyl Release
The score for HBO’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, featuring music by Max Richter is now available on vinyl from Deutsche Grammophon HERE
GERMANY | Nov. 2019
Max Richter returns to Germany with three special performances in November 2019. Joined by an ensemble and Soprano Grace Davidson, Richter will perform music from The Leftovers, as well as the abridged 90 min. concert version of his ‘lullaby for a frenetic world’ ; ‘SLEEP.’ Performances at Hamburg’s Laieszhalle, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, and the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf.
NEVER LOOK AWAY (Werk Ohne Autor) | Vinyl
Max Richter’s score for the Oscar nominated film ‘Never Look Away’ (Werk Ohne Autor) directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is now available on vinyl from Deutsche Grammophon. Listen HERE.