Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks

Sometimes I like to listen to classical music.  Since I'm ignorant, I usually listen to the same stuff I have over and over, or turn on 98.1 and see what they've got for me.  So it is always exciting to me when I find new music, composed with classical instruments, that doesn't suck.  Max Richter has apparently been around for a while, but this was the first album I'd heard of his.  I recently listened to an earlier recording by him and I think his newer stuff is better, just for the record (so to speak).  He is a composer of sorts, though there are few symphonies here and more just elegantly arranged songs with violin, piano, and those other instruments you see in the orchestra pit.

"The Blue Notebooks" seems to be a concept album - or at least, it returns to a theme: a woman typing and reading what she's written (presumably) out loud.  Despite its classical leanings, the record establishes a number of sounds during its 40 minutes.  The mournful, swelling strings of "On the nature of daylight" recall early instrumental Spiritualized, while the tender solo piano melodies of "Horizon Variations" and "Vladimir's Blues" feel as if they were meant to be played behind nostalgic and emotional deteriorating home Super8 footage.  "Shadow Journal" juxtaposes clear, high, and simple violin episodes against a submarine heartbeat rhythm and warbling keyboards.  It and "Arboretum" feel the most artificial on the album (not in a bad way) - the classical instrumentation feels disturbed by the loops and beats, however subtle they may be, and this tension provides some of the most excellent moments on the album.  As often is the case, the strings occasionally grow to a point of being over-wrought, which is what turned me off Spiritualized and other stringy space rock to begin with.  It is only transient, though, as in the climaxes of the second and second-to-last tracks, which have a substantial buildup and demand a payoff, even if that payoff is offensive to me.  It's a great album to put on while reading or milling around - it doesn't take much attention and is consistently quite pleasant, though edgy enough to not be played in most establishments.  If you're getting tired of those old bores Bach and Liszt, give this fellow a try.

Here's "On The Nature Of Daylight," and here's "Horizon Variations," by Max Richter.

Comments

[C]

i dig. the words are kafka, btw.