The Liminal Station 002
Max Richter
Here is the second official edition of The Liminal Station Email Newsletter. Today I’m taking a turn towards a contemporary classical musician Max Richter.
Why send on a Tuesday?
I figured I’d send this out on Tuesdays because when I use to work in a record store Tuesday was (and I believe nowadays it still is) new release day.
I guess I’m a traditionalist in that way.
Max Richter
If you’re into people making classical music and film scores nowadays you’ve probably heard of Max Richter. His music has also been in several films and TV shows.
From Richter’s about page:
Max Richter’s potent distillations of classical tradition, minimal electronica, and the spoken word deliver a listening experience that intentionally levels the field between composer and audience; promoting an open and easy musical conversation without sacrificing depth or emotional resonance in the exchange.
From his Wikipedia page
Max Richter (/ˈrɪktər/; German: [ˈʁɪçtɐ]; born 22 March 1966) is a German-born British composer who has been an influential voice in post-minimalist composition and in the meeting of contemporary classical and alternative popular musical styles since the early 2000s. Richter is classically trained, having graduated in composition from the Royal Academy of Music and studied with Luciano Berio in Italy. Richter also composes music for stage, opera, ballet and screen. He has also collaborated with other musicians, as well as with performance, installation and media artists. He has recorded eight solo albums and his music is widely used in cinema. As of December 2019, Richter has passed one billion streams and one million album sales.
The Blue Notebooks
The album I want to feature in this edition of TLS is The Blue Notebooks.
Originally written in 2003 and rereleased in 2018, The Blue Notebooks is a subtle and peaceful protest against political, social and personal brutality. The album includes narrated texts from Franz Kafka’s ‘Blue Octavo Notebooks’ which according to Max “…reflected on my sense of the politics of the time. Facts were beginning to be replaced by subjective assertions in the build-up to the Iraq war, which seemed to be viewed as inevitable and justified in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. Kafka’s use of the absurd to investigate power structures struck me as highly relevant. He is, of course, the patron saint of doubt, and doubt – about politics, and the way society was heading – was what I was looking to express. The texts were specifically picked because they refer to childhood, or the passing of time, when everything around is failing.”
‘On The Nature Of Daylight’ is the album’s most prominent and best-known track, most notably due to its pivotal inclusion in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and more recently Denis Villeneuve’s award-winning winning film Arrival.
It’s a wonderful album for getting the brain snakes to stop their writhing.
You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Music.
This link will also take you to The Blue Notebooks site, and in the upper right corner are links to other places you can listen to the album.
Spring 1
Along with The Blue Notebooks I also want to call attention to Richter’s rendetion of Antonio Vivaldi’s four seasons, in particular the track Spring 1, which I adore.
Where to listen
The Blue Notebooks on Spotify. If you want links to other places you an listen just look at the upper right hand corner here.
Fin
Till next Tuesday.
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