Composer of the Week: Max Richter

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Max Richter (b 1966): In the Studio

Max Richter (b 1966)

In the Studio

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Max Richter (b 1966), In the Studio

Donald Macleod joins composer Max Richter in his creative habitat

Donald Macleod chats to Max Richter, one of the world’s most in-demand composers. Today, inside his studio, they explore his creative process and what drives him to write today.

Donald Macleod joins composer Max Richter in his creative habitat to explore how and why he writes.

German-born British musician Max Richter is one of the most influential composers of his generation. A streaming sensation with over 3 billion listens, he blends classical and electronic elements in his music and is just as at home on 6Music as on Radio 3. He’s a producer, pianist and serial collaborator whose trailblazing work ranges from ballets and orchestral works to major Hollywood scores and solo albums. At his studio in rural Oxfordshire, Donald sits down with Max to talk about his musical life, from making synthesisers in his bedroom, to Grammy nominations, writing the world’s longest lullaby and tackling some of society’s biggest questions through the medium of music. Across the week, we dig into Max’s eclectic back catalogue, and journey through one of his most popular works, his reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

In today’s final episode, we get a glimpse into Max’s creative practice as he takes us inside his purpose-built studio. From his very first recording, humanitarian issues and political activism have been a long-running thread through Max’s work, and he thinks of music as an ever-more crucial place to reflect.  He and Donald discuss the role of the composer in the 21st century and what drives Max to write today, while playing a selection of his most recent works.

The Twins (Prague) (excerpt)
Max Richter, piano     

Exiles (excerpt)  
Baltic Sea Philharmonic
Kristjan Järvi, conductor

Testament
Max Richter, piano
Max Baillie, violin
Venetia Jollands, violin
Yume Fujise, viola
Max Ruisi, cello

Flowers of Herself  
Baltic Sea Philharmonic
Kristjan Järvi, conductor

Voices: All Human Beings ; Origins
Max Richter, Piano, organ, synthesiser
KiKi Layne, speaker
Ian Burdge, cello
Air Lyndhurst Orchestra
Tenebrae
Robert Ziegler, conductor

Winter (Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons)
Elena Urioste, violin
Chineke! Orchestra
Max Richter, synthesiser

Mercy
Mari Samuelsen, violin
Max Richter, piano


Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Cardiff

(Photo credit: Mike Terry)

Composer of the Week: Max Richter (b 1966)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod surveys the life and work of German-born British composer Max Richter.

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