MAX RICHTER Exiles

 

EXILES

 

MAX RICHTER Voices 2

 

VOICES 2

 

SIGNUM Saxophone Quartet ECHOES

 

ECHOES

 

Hilary Hahn VIRTUOSO

 

VIRTUOSO

 

MAX RICHTER Opus 2020

 

OPUS 2020

 

Jess Gillam TIME

 

TIME

Jeroen van Veen THE BEST OF MINIMAL PIANO MUSIC

 

THE BEST OF MINIMAL PIANO MUSIC

 

Gautier Capuçon EMOTIONS

 

EMOTIONS

 

MAX RICHTER Voices

VOICES

Aurora Orchestra MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

Rudolf Buchbinder THE DIABELLI PROJECT

                                                         THE DIABELLI PROJECT

MAX RICHTER Voyager

Max Richter is one of the most influential figures of the contemporary music scene, producing ground-breaking work as a recording artist, composer, pianist and collaborator. He studied composition and piano at Edinburgh University, the Royal Academy of Music and with Luciano Berio. He first earned a reputation during the 1990s, initially establishing himself with contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus which he co-founded. His 2002 debut album Memoryhouse, recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, was hailed as a masterpiece. His following release, 2004’s The Blue Notebooks, was declared “a landmark work of contemporary classical music” by The Independent’s Andy Gill. Recomposed By Max Richter: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons, was released in 2012 and topped the classical chart in 22 countries, and 2015’s landmark eight-hour magnum opus Sleep was praised as among the best albums of the decade.

MAX RICHTER Sleep Remixes

The remixes that are presented here are varied and add perfectly to the canvas that has been left behind to sonically daub on. The immediate interest here are the Mogwai and Clark one remixes. They are the acts that historically will deliver the more abrasive take on the tracks and subsequently the more subversive. Both acts do not disappoint. Conversely, the ‘short edits’ available here are far more interesting and accessible that the full remix tracks. To be brutal, there is very little difference between certain lengthy mixes and shortened mixes. The edited re-mixer track gets to the point quicker and by-passes the repetition of the outstanding sublime content of the SLEEP originals. This CD works perfectly well with the ‘short’ edited 7 mixes of the same track submitted by Mogwai, Clark, Digitonal’s Theo In Dreamland and Jürgen Müller. These additions are invaluable to the finished product.

In defense, all of the tracks and mixes offer much in terms of a unique, modern composer that is an obvious influence on contemporary composers such as Clint Mansell and John Murphy.

Max Richter is very much a name to be looking out for in the field of contemporary composers who are able to transcend the field of ‘popular’ music to create another usable product.

Angèle Dubeau / La Pietà OVATION

“Music must not be the prerogative of the elite ; it belongs to everyone.” These words by Telemann have been my motto for a very long time. I like to think that music should be shared with as many people as possible, and it was in this spirit that I developed the concert program “One Last Time”, performed 33 times in Canada in the fall of 2017 and then on tour in Latin America in the winter of 2018. This album, recorded live at Quebec City’s Palais Montcalm in November 2017, features some of the most striking works that La Pietà has performed during its 21 years of existence. All of the selected works represent important moments I have experienced with my ensemble…

… when I first founded the orchestra, made up entirely of women, inspired by the young girls at the Ospedale de la Pietà, the Venice orphanage where music reigned supreme under the directorship of its famous maestro di coro Antonio Vivaldi…

… or playing George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody N^o 1, a work burgeoning with passion that reminds me of my studies in Bucharest, where I discovered how to make my violin sing, dance, cry, and speak.

… or more recently, a dozen years ago, when I created a series of musical portraits of contemporary composers whose signature styles engaged me so powerfully – artists such as Ludovico Einaudi, Philip Glass, and Max Richter, whose works on this album are now part of the modern music canon.

… or all the occasions when it has been my great privilege to share the stage with exceptional musicians and premiere new works. My precious partnerships with masters such as Canadian composer Srul Irving Glick and Japanese pianist and composer Joe Hisaishi – giants who have coloured my musical world – also appear on this album.

Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have expressed myself through music, I have travelled through music, and it sustains me to this day.

I gave my first concert at the age of five, and 51 years later, I would like to say “thank you,” because after all these years, what fills me with joy is knowing that my music is there with you, both in your everyday life and in the special moments.

Thank you for all of these experiences. Enjoy! (Angèle Dubeau)

Fenella Humphreys / Covent Garden Sinfonia / Ben Palmer THE FOUR SEASONS RECOMPOSED

I would love to record the original Four Seasons one day. I think that of any work in the violin repertoire Vivaldi gives you so much scope for creativity and colour, particularly through his written descriptions and sonnets, that you could never come to the end of the possibilities contained within the music. I never learnt them as a kid and then avoided them for years, partly because I’d become so accustomed to hearing them in the background that I didn’t realise how brilliant they really are. When I was finally booked to perform them a few years ago, and forced to learn them, I was actually really pleased to be coming to them fresh and without preconceptions.

For this project we would have been quite pushed to fit both sets of Seasons (Vivaldi and Richter) on a single disc. Richter’s Seasons deserves to be heard on its own terms, rather than in a direct comparison like that, and it felt right for this disc to put his music in a different context. (Fenella Humphreys)

Mari Samuelsen MARI

MARI by Mari Samuelsen explores our longing to feel grounded, to escape into nature, and how that sits with the modern notion of global citizens and the busy, fulfilling lives we wish to lead. “This contrast is something we’ll see more and more of”, says Mari. “The urge to live slow is going to become more important in order to keep yourself, your life and your mind in balance. But when you are conscious of these two, contrasting worlds, one can experience ‘a moment of flow’, where you are able reconcile these opposites, if only fleetingly.”

MARI was conceived over the course of a year and a half, a process that was constantly evolving. Mindful of the power music has to transport people back in time or to certain places, Mari sought out pieces and composers that were evocative of dreams and a childlike innocence, as well as the contrast inherent in our perceptions of modern living and culture. “Things that are beautiful but not tangible” was one criterion; “places and memories that are pure and untouched” another.

“…MARI is just one step in the direction that I will continue in for years to come; it’s the beginning of a journey, and I’m constantly exploring new ideas and widening my musical horizon.” – Mari Samuelsen

Lang Lang PIANO BOOK

Recorded at London’s Abbey Road studios and in Beijing, ‘Piano Book’ is Lang Lang’s very personal playlist for everyone who loves the piano. It’s also the fruits of an astonishing career that has taken him from child prodigy to virtuoso at the very top of his profession. Equally happy playing for billions of viewers at the Olympics or just for a few hundred children in the public schools, Lang Lang is a master of communicating through music and his new album is a testament to that.

Angèle Dubeau / La Pietà OVATION

Recorded live in concert, this album features works by Ludovico Einaudi, Max Richter, Philip Glass, Ennio Morricone, George Enescu, Joe Hisaichi, Camille Saint-Saens and Srul Irving Glick. Angèle Dubeau writes of this release: “’Music must not be the prerogative of the elite, it belongs to everyone.’ These words by Telemann have been my motto for a very long time. I like to think that music should be shared with as many people as possible, and it was in this spirit that I developed the concert program “One Last Time”, performed 33 times in Canada in the fall of 2017 and then on tour in Latin America in the winter of 2018. This album, recorded live at Quebec City’s Palais Montcalm in November 2017, features some of the most striking works that La Pietà has performed during its 21 years of existence. I gave my first concert at the age of five, and 51 years later, I would like to say “thank you,” because after all these years, what fills me with joy is knowing that my music is there with you, both in your everyday life and in the special moments. Thank you for all of these experiences. Enjoy!”

MAX RICHTER White Boy Rick

Max Richter wrote the score for “White Boy Rick”, the story of teenager Richard Wershe Jr., who became an undercover informant for the FBI during the 1980s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison. 

MAX RICHTER Never Look Away

“Never Look Away (German: Werk ohne Autor)” is a 2018 German drama film directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. It was selected to be screened in the main competition section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival. It was also selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards. Inspired by the life of Gerhard Richter, the story follows art student Kurt Barnert in post-war East Germany. He falls in love with fellow student Ellie Seeband, but her father, Professor Carl Seeband, opposes their relationship. Complications arise as Carl’s role in the Nazi eugenics program becomes known. Max Richter wrote the score.

Honestly, the plot could be inexistent and the synopsis of the movie could say “weather report” but if it’s scored by Max Richter it goes at the top of my priorities list. A drama, and a European drama nonetheless seems like one of the most fertile grounds for his kind of music. Indeed right from the opening cue “The mind’s eye” I recognise the sublime minimalistic sound that make me fall in love with his music when I heard his “The leftovers” score; it’s quiet, it’s deep and it moves at a slow place that allows me to take it all in in comfortable, poignant doses. This is the more introspective part of his score, the one focused only inwards. When the outside world interferes the music stays minimal but the warmth subsides a bit and gives way to a colder, more electronic influenced mood. The tonal changes are subtle and natural and I also like the way the instruments are spaced from one another and how the sound is not too busy. The guitar plays its tune, the violin watches for a bit and then joins in a little bit further and it’s a nice sensation of a world expanding.

Somehow “Never look away” has that war drama feel to it; it’s hard to explain but when you’ve listened to enough minimalistic war drama scores, you know how they sound, how they feel. There is a sense of urgency in the music, a silent accusation in the poignant way the strings are played as if the soloists are taking their time, making the listener feel every cross of the bow; there’s also a constant undertone of elegy. Even if the music is minimalistic Max Richter knows how to add a certain weight to it, the weight of the story, just slightly bigger than the ones of his albums for the soul; it’s the one small concession Max, whose music always has a life of its own, in a world of its own regardless of the story, makes to the story of “Werk ohne autor”.

The cues from this score are long, almost unusually long for Max Richter who I think except “Hostiles” hasn’t gone above the 50 minutes mark; once again each little piece of this composition takes its time to create a particular atmosphere and transmit a certain idea to the listener. There are a lot of ostinato motifs, mostly strings that make this score very good for background listening as well, complete with the ambient nuances. All in all, as always, the standalone listening experience of a Max Richter shows that this is a classically trained music composer who makes his music available and accessible outside the film music realm. (Mihnea Manduteanu)