Max Richter – The Blue Notebooks (15th Anniversary Edition) – Deutsche Grammophon

As I’ve mentioned before. Music can perform all sorts of funny, crazy, wild and wonderful tricks on you. Your day can become something else entirely. Skies can darken, then brighten brilliantly. Time slips by slowly, then rapidly gains nervous traction. Originally created and recorded way back in 2003 – although in many ways that’s completely irrelevant as this timeless music defies a timestamp and simply is – The Blue Notebooks is now revisited in 2018, with added bonus and previously unreleased material plus artwork. You could be forgiven, or surprised, about Max Richter’s background playing with Future Sound Of London or Roni Size given that this music has been labelled ‘Classical’ but then again the pure emotional resonance generated surpasses, quietly, lazy subtext’s. I don’t profess to be any kind of expert on the artist, but it seems to me that the revitalising sounds of say Shadow Journal redefine the potential that the fusion between orchestral ambience and electronics can produce. Which is Big. On occasion there is a strange sense of finding yourself contemplating under the roof of God care of the Organ punctuated landscapes of Iconography, while at others the contrasting (anti-titled) Old Song ripples with abundant modern intensity. Words sometimes appear here and there emanating from Tilda Swinton, colouring atmosphere, yet it’s the sheer depth reached by the intensely scrupulous arrangement of notes that truly speak for themselves. What I also love about listening to this score and reading about its expanded story is just how your mind rings with ideas, pulsating with the desire to learn more about the spaces in-between and the world that surrounds you. Inspirational.

Release: May 11. Standard Editions (2 CD Digipack, double eAlbum, & 2 LP black vinyl).
June 29. Super Deluxe Edition (hardcover 2 CD book set with real notebook inside + exclusive extra brand new track)

Pre-order https://dg.lnk.to/Richter-TheBlueNotebooks

www.maxrichtermusic.com

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