• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Spellbinding Music

Genre-bending & spine-tingling

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact

Max Richter: From Sleep

October 4, 2015 By guillaume

Born in Germany but raised in England, modern classical composer Max Richter is a prolific artist who has already scored extensively for dance companies, art installations, animation or cinema. A classically trained pianist, Max Richter is also a keen listener of post-rock and punk music, ambient and electronica or American minimalism. Since his début as a solo composer with Memory House in 2002, all these diverse influences have become part of his musical DNA, all the more so in his 2012 landmark “recomposition” of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

Introduced as a “lullaby for a frenetic world” while also borrowing from the ambient and classical music canon, the eight-hour long Sleep (and its short one-hour version From Sleep) sees Max Richter experimenting with a score that is intended to be slept through. Both versions were released on the Deutsche Grammophon record label on 4th September 2015 last.

Max Richter - From Sleep (2015)
Max Richter – From Sleep (2015)

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of release of The Blue Notebooks in October 2014 last, Max Richter was invited to perform the complete score live at the Royal Albert Hall for the first time. On that occasion, the musician revisited the sources for his initial inspiration:

The Blue Notebooks as a whole is a series of interconnected dreams… or perhaps hallucinations is a better term… and throughout I am drawing on my twin obsessions: classical music and electronica, in what I would call ‘storytelling music’. I’ve always been dreamy – for various reasons I’d been a troubled kid and my refuge lay in books and an interior life that became as rich, or richer still, than the real world. The album then is an extension of this dreaminess, my own personal reflection on memory, time passing and raw emotionality. Max Richter

And Max Richter’s contribution to the remarkable Erik Satie et les Nouveaux Jeunes compilation (2011/2015) was a track entitled “Erik Sleeping”. In other words, The Sleep project echoes a lifelong preoccupation with the musician. How can music and the mind connect during this cyclical and altered state of consciousness we all spend immersed in for a third of our lives?

Conceived in consultation with neuroscientist David Eagleman, the eight hours and twenty four minutes of music for the long version were entirely composed and written down. Breaking down into 31 parts of varying lengths (2 to 33mn), the quiet and slow moving musical waves are structured as a set of variations mirroring the sleep patterns of an average night’s sleep – REM, light, deep or slow-wave sleep.

Joining Max Richter on piano, keyboard and electronics are members of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (Ben Russell on violin, Caleb Burhans on viola, Clarice Jensen on violin, Yuki Numata Resnick on violin, Brian Snow on cello).

Both versions open to a gentle piano chords progression set to a slow rhythm of 40 beats per minute which replicates the average heart rate of a sleeping person. As in a first stage within a sleep cycle, this opening section evolves slowly with additional layers of cello and electronics for the first 38mn of the long version.

British soprano singer and baroque specialist Grace Davidson also contributes to wordless vocal lines on the project. On “Path 5 (delta)” for instance, the layering of ethereal vocal lines magically connects her singing with the age-old tradition of the lullaby, the act of rocking a child to sleep while singing. On “Path 19 (yet frailest)” (short version), the same theme is further explored and arranged for violin and piano.

Constructed using a distinct “grammar” and meant to be experienced differently, the short version is an active daydream, an echo of the eight-hour version which works more like a modern ambient piece with vast harmonic soundscapes. Tracks like “Dream 13 (minus even)” for instance do not feature in the long version.

Life in the western world has been accelerating significantly over the past few decades. If we so choose, a widely available internet-based hyper connectivity now means a constant avalanche of data at the tip of our fingers which has to be dealt with and processed. At the same time, natural nocturnal darkness is now a thing of the past in urban centres. These recent changes are of course leading to increased levels of stress or anxiety and as a result to the prevalence of sleep disorders.

Gorgeous and truly fascinating, Max Richter’s Sleep as a lullaby for adults is intended as “a manifesto for a slower pace of existence”, a metaphorical pause button where the act of sleeping remains both a creative state and a refuge from the hustle and bustle of modern living.

On Sunday 27th September 2015 last from midnight to 8.00am, Sleep was performed live in the Reading Room at London’s Wellcome Collection and broadcast on BBC3 radio. A small audience was invited to experience the score overnight on camp beds.

The 8 hour version of Sleep can be downloaded from the Deutsche Grammophon website via iTunes.

The short version From Sleep is available as a 2xLP or a 1 CD version.

http://www.maxrichtermusic.com/ 

http://www.oneworldsleep.com/

You May Also Like:

  • Max Richter: Three Worlds: Music From Woolf Works
    Max Richter: Three Worlds: Music From Woolf Works
  • Clarice Jensen: For This From That Will Be Filled
    Clarice Jensen: For This From That Will Be Filled
  • Bruno Sanfilippo: Piano Textures 4
    Bruno Sanfilippo: Piano Textures 4
  • A Winged Victory for the Sullen: Atomos
    A Winged Victory for the Sullen: Atomos
  • Murcof x Vanessa Wagner: Statea
    Murcof x Vanessa Wagner: Statea
  • Marika Hackman: We Slept At Last
    Marika Hackman: We Slept At Last

Filed Under: Contemporary, Modern Classical Tagged With: ambient, electro, Max Richter

Subscribe to Spellbinding Music

Never miss a post and subscribe to Spellbinding Music via email. Receive weekly and enchanting musical updates straight into your inbox - and it's free!

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

About

Spellbinding Music is a blog which curates contemporary, modern classical, roots, electronic, jazz and folk music…and everything in between. ... [Continue Reading]

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Most Read this week

Follow via Email

Search

Recent Posts

Saffronkeira with Paolo Fresu: In Origine: The Field of Repentance (2020)

Saffronkeira with Paolo Fresu: In Origine: The Field of Repentance

Paolo Fresu & Daniele Di Bonaventura - Altissima Luce (2019)

Paolo Fresu & Daniele Di Bonaventura: Altissima Luce

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin & Ultan O’Brien - Solas an Lae (2020)

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin & Ultan O’Brien: Solas an Lae

Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger - Force Majeure (2020)

Dezron Douglas & Brandee Younger: Force Majeure

Yumi Ito - Stardust Crystals (2020)

Yumi Ito: Stardust Crystals

Lau Nau - Poseidon (2017)

Lau Nau: Poseidon

From the Archives

Vanessa Wagner: Inland

Nadah El Shazly - Ahwar (2017)

Nadah El Shazly: Ahwar

Brigid Mae Power - Head Above the Water (2020)

Brigid Mae Power: Head Above The Water

Jherek Bischoff - Cistern (2016)

Jherek Bischoff: Cistern

Sly & Robbie meet Nils Petter Molvær - Nordub (2018)

Sly & Robbie meet Nils Petter Molvær: Nordub

Anna Mieke - Idle-Mind (2019)

Anna Mieke: Idle Mind

Slow Moving Clouds - Starfall (2018)

Slow Moving Clouds: Starfall

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 Spellbinding Music | Website by Pagecrafted

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT