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Stories   >   Max Richter embarks on a musical journey with 'In A Landscape' / Shout Radio

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Max Richter embarks on a musical journey with 'In A Landscape' / Shout Radio

Posted: September 23, 2024

Shout Radio's Alondra Guadarrama writes……..Pioneering composer  Max Richter has released his long-awaited new album In A Landscape  via Decca Records. It is a record about reconciling polarities, bridging the electronic and the acoustic, the human and the natural world, life’s big questions and the quiet pleasures of living – a fleeting self-portrait of a musician in constant motion.

Max Richter says: “ In A Landscape is a protest record, but it’s more concerned with trying to get beyond polarities and oppositions because the world is so polarized right now. Everything is so extreme and I think there’s a tendency for people to not be able to talk to each other. What I’m trying to do with this material is reconcile opposites. We have to.”

In A Landscape  marks a significant evolution in Richter’s musical journey, as he delves deeper into themes of optimism and human emotion accompanied by an innovative exploration of electronic sounds and field recordings.

It is his first solo album recorded at Studio Richter Mahr, the minimalist, eco-friendly creative retreat designed and operated by Richter and his wife, visual artist Yulia Mahr. Shifting the focus to Richter’s immediate surroundings,  In A Landscape  marks a psychic space in which to meditate on the present while acknowledging a lifetime of artistic influence, from Bach and Purcell to the poetry of Keats, Wordsworth and Anne Carson.

Richter also found inspiration in several books he was reading at the time of writing  In A Landscape , and many of the album's song titles are named after phrases from literature and some of his favourite paperbacks appear on the album's cover.

Interspersed among the studio compositions are nine “life studies” assembled from field recordings and the bustle of everyday life: footsteps in the woods, eggs sizzling in the kitchen, a Hong Kong airport tram, Mozart practicing at the piano. These simple acts of observation by a Zen-minded creative underscore the “landscape” of the album’s title, and evoke the found sounds that distinguished Richter’s breakthrough albums, 2002’s Memoryhouse and 2004’s The Blue Notebooks.

In A Landscape  employs a homogenous musical language on Richter’s seminal album  The Blue Notebooks , and the two albums, in some ways, frame this significant chapter of Richter’s life and career. It presents itself as an open conversation with the audience, asking them to consider the dualities of their own life, what personal stories come to mind as they listen, and ultimately serving as an invitation to the imagination.

In support of  In A Landscape, Richter will embark on his first world tour, marking the globally celebrated musician’s passage into adulthood. His highly anticipated tour will see him play across the UK, Europe, North America, Canada and Australia throughout 2024 and 2025, including shows at London’s legendary Royal Festival Hall and the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Tickets are on sale now.

One of the most influential and acclaimed composers of his generation, Richter is known for his ability to seamlessly blend traditional orchestrations with modern electronic elements. With a career spanning decades, Richter’s impact on the music industry cannot be understated. His unrivaled ability to translate profound human experiences into musical compositions has earned him a dedicated global following, with his catalogue amassing over three billion streams to date. Notably, his hit album  SLEEP  remains one of the most streamed classical albums of all time.

His seminal album The Blue Notebooks  continues to reach new audiences even as it celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024. ‘On The Nature of Daylight’, the album’s epic centrepiece, was recently featured in HBO’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic drama The Last Of Us, as well as appearing on numerous film and television soundtracks over the years. Richter performed the album in full at Glastonbury Festival last year alongside Tilda Swinton, who joined Richter onstage to recite the spoken word pieces he contributed for the original recording.

Beyond his solo projects, Richter is a prolific collaborator who has worked with renowned creatives and visionaries across multiple disciplines. From scoring Dior shows for Kim Jones to composing ballets choreographed by Wayne McGregor to his contributions to the world of film and television with directors Denis Villeneuve, Martin Scorsese and Ari Folman, Richter’s versatility knows no bounds.

Richter’s collaboration with Wayne McGregor is going from strength to strength, with the acclaimed composer contributing an original score to McGregor’s upcoming production of Maddaddam, which will be staged at London’s Royal Opera House in November; a visionary new ballet based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian epic of annihilation and survival. Additionally, the pair’s previous collaboration, Woolf Works, received its New York premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House in June.

Richter co-founded Studio Richter Mahr with his partner, visual artist Yulia Mahr. Located in the English countryside of Oxfordshire, they built the media production studio inside a former farmhouse and powered it with state-of-the-art solar and heat pump technology. Set on 12 hectares of woodland, the duo are passionate about using the land to grow crops and provide a sustainable work environment, serving as a space where both emerging and established creatives can develop their work.

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