REVIEW! MAX RITCHER - FROM SLEEP (2015)

"Sleeping is one of the most important things we do"

It seems year after year Max Richter, a German born English composer, gets better and better. With a major backing from film directors as well as HBO knocking on his door, for more songs to be added to their star filled TV dramas, this man can do no wrong. (Seek The Leftover's TV Show, series 2 out now)

After finishing various works for the silver screen and the ones that live in our front rooms remaining constantly vibrant. Richter took it upon himself to crafted one piece of music heavily disguised as lullaby to help explore the ideology of what Sleep is and what happens to us as we enter inactivity.
Richter prior to writing this length of music, conferred with famous neuroscientist David Eagleman to learn more about how our brains work at night. Richter wanted to attempt to find out the answer of what spaces occur within our minds when it is on "holiday".  Thus...

We got the masterpiece: SLEEP!


However, this album under review: 'From Sleep' can be seen as the "greatest hits" of this eight hour long epic. Heavily consisting of pianos, strings and choral structures, this album is perfect in case you just want dip your toe in the waters of this drowsy delight. Basically, a heightened power nap to energize your ears. The album is compressed onto one CD or on two vinyls in a deluxe package; its a beautiful accompaniment to your thoughts and dreams in the midnight hours.  

On this record, set over two visually stunning vinyls which in themselves create their own moon like gravitational pull when spinning, Richter manages to craft a beautiful patchwork of pianos, variety of strings and choral pieces throughout to distill a quilt of heavenly slumber. The music, river like in it's passage, drifts along with a soft ambiance. Personally, this lullaby for the dormant individual never fails to lack any tedious qualities track by track or does any section repeat its previous self; Richter successfully conveys a strong sense of emotion and a constant beating melody which is usually absent in the hearts of minimal music.

Track by track we get a feel of Richter's thoughts and feelings on what sleep is to him. Second by second will hear that with each stroke of a string and each hum of the choral piece being played we see the transition of the subject mater into that of an art. The vibrations add more and more splatters to the final canvas of art hanging in our minds.

Max Richter- German born English composer

Richter himself is a key figure head in the modern movement of post-minimalism in the early 2000's. A style of music and art which further develops and expands upon the original idea of minimalism a few decades before. As he successful re-composed Vivaldi's classic baroque standard, 'The Four Seasons' with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, to critical acclaim, he became a main figure in the modern classical circuits. (For me personally, this is where I first heard his work)
Although, he himself had already released a stream of concept albums including the brilliant 'Blue Notebooks' which, featured Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton herself narrating like a omnipresent voice. These records largely stayed in a mix of elective social circles where they were chosen as their favorite albums of that year corresponding to its release.

Not long before the release of this record to the public, the composer was approached by the BBC to preform this epic it all its heavenly glory on the 27th of September that year,2015. With Richter agreeing to be part of it's Radio 3 "Science and Music" weekend, the whole 8 hour piece was preformed live from the midnight til 8:00 am to match the sleeping patterns of a normal human as the climax to the festival. With this, Ritcher manages to break multiple records all at the same time including: the longest broadcast for a single piece of music in the BBC since its inception in 1936.

Max expressing his feelings about the record/ Inner Sleeve

Side A of the Vinyl/ Grey "Moon" Colour

Rating: 4/5


-THURSTON

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P.S. Yes 'The Blue Notebooks' is where I get my name sake from! Shhhhhhh.....