Max Richter

This article is about the music composer. For the member of the Nazi party, see Max Scheubner-Richter.

Max Richter (born 1966) is a German-born British composer.

Biography

Richter studied composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music, and with Luciano Berio in Florence. After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus. He stayed with the group for ten years, commissioning and performing works by Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe and Steve Reich. The ensemble was signed to Decca/Argo, producing five albums. In 1996, Max collaborated with Future Sound of London on their album Dead Cities, beginning as a pianist, but ultimately working on several tracks, as well as co-writing one track (titled "Max").[1] Richter subsequently worked with FSOL over a period of two years, also contributing to the albums The Isness[2] and The Peppermint Tree and Seeds of Superconsciousness.[3] In 2000, Richter worked with Mercury Prize winner Roni Size on the Reprazent album In the Mode.[4] Richter produced Vashti Bunyan's album Lookaftering (2005) and Kelli Ali's album Rocking Horse in 2008.

Solo work

In 2002, Richter released his solo debut Memoryhouse, an experimental album of “documentary music” recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, which explores real and imaginary stories and histories. It combines ambient sounds, voices, and poetry readings. The album went out of print several years later, but was re-released in 2009. Four tracks (“Europe, After the Rain”, “The Twins (Prague)”, “Fragment“, and “Embers”) were used in the six-part 2005 BBC documentary Auschwitz: The Nazis and the ‘Final Solution’ produced by Laurence Rees. On his second album, The Blue Notebooks (2004) Richter combines sparse musical soundscapes with Tilda Swinton’s readings of excerpts from Kafka’s 'Blue Octavo' and other 'shadow journals.' 'Songs from Before' (2006) , Richter's cinematic evocation of the past was punctuated by Robert Wyatt’s distinctive, understated readings of Haruki Murakami’s texts. Richter released his fourth solo album 24 Postcards in Full Colour, a collection of 24 classically composed miniatures for ringtones, in 2008. The pieces are a series of variations on the basic material, scored for strings, piano and electronics.[5] Richter's last album infra is an extension of his 25 minute score for a ballet choreographed by Wayne McGregor, staged at the Royal Opera House. Expanded from the original piece, infra comprises music written for piano, electronics and string quintet, including the full performance score, as well as material that has subsequently developed from the construction of the album. Upcoming projects include a reworking of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which will be released in September 2011 as part of Deutsche Grammophon’s Recomposed series. In May 2012, Max will debut ‘SUM’, a chamber opera directed by Wayne McGregor based on the novel 'Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives' at the Royal Opera House Linbury Studio.

Film scores

Richter has composed numerous film soundtracks. He executed the score to Ari Folman’s Golden Globe winning film ‘Waltz with Bashir’ in 2007, supplanting the standard orchestral soundtrack with rich, synth-based sounds. Richter wrote the music for Feo Aladag's film Die Fremde (with additional music by Stéphane Moucha). In 2010, Dinah Washington's "This Bitter Earth" was remixed with Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight" for the Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island. In July 2010, "On The Nature Of Daylight" and "Vladimir's Blues" were used throughout the BBC Two two-part drama "Dive" co-written by Bafta award winning Dominic Savage and Simon Stevens. Max also wrote the moving soundtrack to Peter Richardson’s documentary film, "How to die in Oregon" and the score to Les Impardonnables(2011) directed by André Téchiné. Films going on release this year for which Max has written music include French drama Sarah’s Key (Elle s’appelait Sarah) by Gilles Paquet-Brenner and romantic thriller Perfect Sense directed by David MacKenzie. Richter is composing the score to Ari Folman’s new film The Congress which is set for release in 2012-13.

Solo discography

• Memoryhouse (BBC, 2002)
• The Blue Notebooks (Fat Cat Records, 2004)
• Songs from Before (Fat Cat Records, 2006)
• 24 Postcards in Full Colour (Fat Cat Records, 2008)
• Infra (Fat Cat Records, 2010)

Film score discography

Impardonnables, 2011, Director: André Téchiné, Film score: Max Richter

Perfect Sense, 2011, Director: David MacKenzie, Film score: Max Richter

How to Die in Oregon 2010, Director: Peter D. Richardson, Film score: Max Richter

Sarah’s Key, 2010, Director: Gilles Paquet-Brenner, Film score: Max Richter

My Trip to Al-Qaeda, 2010, Director: Alex Gibney, Film score: Max Richter

Die Fremde, 2010, Director: Feo Aladağ, Film score: Max Richter und Stéphane Moucha

The Womb, 2010, Director: Benedek Fliegauf, Film score: Max Richter, Post-production 2010

Die Wilde Farm, 2009, Director: Dominique Garing & Frédéric Goupil, Film score: Max Richter

Lila, Lila, 2009, Director: Alain Gsponer, Book: Martin Suter, Film score: Max Richter

Penelopa, 2009, Director: Brian Ferris, Film score: Max Richter

Waltz with Bashir, 2008, Director: Ari Folman, Film score: Max Richter. Won 'Best Composer' at the 21st annual European Film Awards.

Darwin – Notes From A Genius, 2008, Producer: Jeremy Bristow, Film score: Max Richter

Frankie Howerd: Rather You Than Me, Director: John Alexander, Film score: Max Richter

Henry May Long, 2007, Director: Randy Sharp, Film score: Max Richter

Hope, 2007, Director: Stanislav Mucha, Film score: Max Richter

Soundproof, 2006, Director: Edmund Coulthard, Film score: Max Richter

References

• http://www.secondthought.co.uk/fsol/deadcities.htm
• http://www.secondthought.co.uk/fsol/isness.htm
• http://www.discogs.com/release/1394575
• http://www.discogs.com/release/12111
• http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/news.php?id=521

External links

• Official website
• Max Richter on Myspace
• FatCat Records Max Richter artist page
• Max Richter on Facebook
• Max Richter on Twitter