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Stories   >   ABC Classic - Lunchtime Concert presents: Max Richter's 'Recomposed'

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ABC Classic - Lunchtime Concert presents: Max Richter's 'Recomposed'

Posted: May 28, 2024 12:00 AM | By: Admin
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Described as one of the most prodigious figures in the contemporary music today, composer, pianist, producer, and collaborator Max Richter has blurred the boundaries of classical music, bringing his post-minimalist music to a diverse audience.

Deeply affected by events in the United States in 2020, Richter turned to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to inspire a soundtrack to a vision of a better and fairer world. In Voices, Richter has set out to create a sound world that has been turned on its head and thus used more bass instruments than usual in this composition.

In Recomposed, composer Max Richter sets out to turn Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons, a work Richter loved as a child, upside down as a way of reclaiming the piece back from its recent commercial exploitation. As with the original, there are four concertos, each with three movements.

Recorded live in concert by ABC Classic at Federation Concert Hall, nipaluna/Hobart 10/6/2023 Engineer Veronika Vincze. Producer Toby Frost.

Program
Max Richter: Voices
Max Richter: Recomposed

Artists
Max Richter (piano and electronics)
Grace Davidson (solo soprano)
Emma McGrath (solo violin Voices, director Recomposed)
DENNI (narrator)
Vanguard Consort
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Matthew Lynch (conductor Voices)

When the composer, musician, producer, remixer and collaborator extraordinaire struck his deal with Deutsche Grammophon, they started by releasing Vivaldi Recomposed, Richter's unique reworking of The Four Seasons for violin, chamber orchestra and moog synthesizer. The package included remixes, and an exclusive performance film featuring Max Richter and violinist Daniel Hope shot in East Berlin in late 2013. There also were five newly-composed electronic soundscapes, dubbed "shadows," by Richter, which were constructed for a live performance of the work.   The Remixes include Spring 1 – Max Richter Remix, Summer 3 – Robot Koch Remix, Autumn 3 – Fear of Tigers Remix and Winter 3 – NYPC Remix. 

A decade later in 2022, Richter returned to the sound world of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, recording with violinist Elena Urioste and the musicians of Chineke! Orchestra. The New Four Seasons saw Richter create a new version of his Recomposed score for period instruments – using gut strings and vintage synthesisers to create a “grittier, more punk rock sound”.

Released in summer 2012, Richter’s genre-defining recomposition of a Baroque masterpiece topped the classical charts in 22 countries. Taking a work he had once loved but which he felt had lost its impact through overexposure, the composer embarked on what he has referred to as “a personal salvage mission” and wove Vivaldi’s musical DNA into something fresh and exciting. His global best-seller has amassed over 450 million streams including 110 million streams for ‘Spring 1’, as Richter’s overall career streams continue to grow to over 3 billion.

Recomposed continues to attract new listeners through its use in the soundtracks of hit TV series including Bridgerton and The Crown, which together saw streams for ‘Spring 1’ triple after the shows aired. It has also been featured in My Brilliant Friend, Chef’s Table, Orphan Black and The Current War. It is a frequent choice for concert repertoire in venues around the world, not to mention a favourite of dancers, ice skaters, actors, filmmakers, fashion designers and more. ‘Spring 1’ is a personal favourite of Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty, as well as Christine & The Queens who described it as “the best song ever to fall in love to” and Diddy who called it his “theme music”.
 

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