MAX RICHTER
24 Postcards In Full Colour
CD1307/DS1307/LP1307
Fat-Cat Records/130701 2008
24 Tracks. 34mins33secs

Max Richter’s latest offering is not, so the press release claims, the follow up to his 2006 album Songs From Before. In fact, the twenty four tracks assembled here are part of a much wider experiment, due to be performed in art galleries, with at its centre mobile phone technology. Audience members will be able to pre-register their phone number and receive SMS messages triggering specific tracks, making each performance totally unpredictable and unique.

Beyond the concept and the cold technological practicality, Max Richter revisits here some of his favourite themes (the passing of time, the ephemeral aspect of memories, the melancholy of leaving places behind) and assembles them into miniature vignettes which, in most case, last little more than a moment. Continue Reading »

Max Richter gave a rare live performance at the Union Chapel in London’s Islington, ahead of the release of his latest project, 24 Postcards In Full Colour, on Fat-Cat in July, and, opening the evening for him was Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson.

Jóhannsson took the stage accompanied with a string quartet and one additional personnel on electronics. With the string quartet positioned centre stage, Jóhannsson found himself stuck in the background between a baby grand piano and his keyboards. Jóhannsson has, since the release of his debut album, Englabörn, in 2002 on Touch and reissued last year on 4AD, established himself as one of the best contemporary classical composers around and has, beside his own records, composed music for films and plays and has also been involved with a handful of side projects. For this London performance, Jóhannsson focused exclusively on his solo work, presenting tracks taken essentially from Englabörn and IBM 1401, A User’s Manual, with a couple of more rhythmic pieces sourced from Dis. Continue Reading »

Scottish classical composer and pianist Max Richter will release his fourth album, his third for Fat-Cat’s 130701 imprint, on 21 July. The album, entitled 24 Postcards In Full Colour, features twenty four short compositions. Richter’s most concise project to date, at under thirty five minutes, the twenty four tracks making the album have been conceived as ringtones, set to be performed in a variety of gallery spaces where pre-registered members of the audience will receive SMS message alert playing back one or more of the tracks. There will also be a micro-site featuring twenty-four photographs, one for each track. 24 Postcards In Full Colour will only be available on vinyl and digital download.

Richter will perform tracks of the album for the first time at the Union Chapel in London this Sunday, 29 June.

Richter’s first album, Memoryhouse, originally released on the BBC’s Late Junction, will be rereleased in August 2008 and will be available on vinyl for the first time.

Max Richter | Fat-Cat Records

MAX RICHTER
Songs From Before
CD1305
130701 / Fat-Cat Records 2006
12 Tracks. 37mins18secs

British-born composer and musician Max Richter studied composition and piano at Edinburgh University and at the Royal Academy Of Music before pursuing his studies in Florence under the late Italian composer Luciano Berio. Richter then co-founded contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus in 1989, and spent ten years performing works by Arvo Pärt, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Graham Fitkins, Louis Andriessen, Brian Eno and many more with them. During this time, he developed an interest for sampling and electronic instrumentation, which led him to work with The Future Sound Of London on their 1996 album Dead Cities. His first album as a composer and musician, Memoryhouse, was recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and released on the BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction imprint in 2002. Continue Reading »