New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Max Richter had never even been to the Glastonbury Festival before he opened the Park Stage on Saturday 24 June 2023. He and his string ensemble were joined by Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton for a full-length performance of The Blue Notebooks, Richter's second album, originally released in 2004. Photos from the Glastonbury gig now feature in the 20th-anniversary vinyl edition of The Blue Notebooks soon to be issued by Deutsche Grammophon.
The set of 2 crystal-clear vinyl LPs is packaged in a newly-designed blue gatefold sleeve, with a six-page booklet and art card. Available exclusively from the DG store, it includes all the tracks from the expanded 2018 edition, together with the This Bitter Earth/On The Nature Of Daylight mash-up - appearing for the first time on vinyl - and a brand-new solo piano version of On The Nature Of Daylight. Also released as a digital deluxe version, the album comes out on 31 January 2025. On The Nature Of Daylight (Piano Version) is released for download and streaming on 8 November 2024.
Its title inspired by The Blue Octavo Notebooks, a collection of writings by Franz Kafka, The Blue Notebooks was composed in 2003. Introducing it to the Glastonbury crowd last year, Max Richter said, "It's kind of a protest record, a response to what was happening in politics around the build-up to the Iraq war where I was really struck with doubt about what was happening. And I thought about Kafka, who's the patron saint of doubt, and I thought about making a piece which expressed everything, and so we recorded this."
Written for strings and electronics, Richter's meditative tracks are structured around Tilda Swinton's readings from Kafka and the work of Polish poet Czesław Miłosz (whom the composer calls the "anti-Kafka"). Earlier this year, independent music blog Stereogum summed the album up as follows: "The Blue Notebooks is uncertain, melancholy, aching for peace. And its genius was in avoiding a rallying cry altogether. Instead, it was a balm in recognizing the futility around us."
While Richter's first album, Memoryhouse, was unjustly overlooked on its original release, The Blue Notebooks garnered acclaim from the start. Its tracks have since appeared in countless TV and film soundtracks, including Waltz with Bashir, The Leftovers, Shutter Island, Arrival, The Handmaid's Tale and The Last of Us.
This season, Max Richter takes The Blue Notebooks on the road as he embarks on his first ever world tour, accompanied by hand-picked string ensembles. The concerts will also feature the music from Richter's newly-released ninth studio album, In A Landscape ("elegiac and resigned yet quietly triumphant" - Pitchfork). As he explains, his latest recording shares many of the concerns of The Blue Notebooks: "In a way this record is another look at the themes of the earlier work, but from the perspective of our world and our lives in 2024."
Max Richter: In a Landscape/The Blue Notebooks world tour dates:
2024:
28 October Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow · 30/31 October
National Concert Hall, Dublin
4 November Bridgewater Hall, Manchester · 5 November Symphony Hall, Birmingham,
6 November Beacon Hall, Bristol Beacon · 8/9 November Royal Festival Hall, London
16 November (matinee & evening perfs) Philharmonie, Paris · 18/19 November Admiralspalast, Berlin
22 November Oslo Opera House · 23 November Konserthuset, Stockholm
25 November DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen · 26 November Laeiszhalle, Hamburg
28 November Royal Theatre Carré, Amsterdam · 30 November Bozar, Brussels
1 December
Queen Elisabeth Hall, Antwerp · 2 December Kurhaus Wiesbaden
4 December Isarphilharmonie, Munich · 5 December Philharmonie Luxembourg
2025:
10/11 February QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane · 14/15 February Sydney Opera House
17/18 February Hamer Hall, Melbourne · 20 February Town Hall, Adelaide
23 February Riverside Theatre, Perth · 26 February Dubai Opera
26 April Emerson Colonial Theatre,
Boston · 29 April Massey Hall, Toronto
2 May Kennedy Center, Washington, DC · 3 May Brooklyn Academy of Music
4 May The Met Philadelphia · 6 May Symphony Center, Chicago
8 May Fox Theater, Oakland · 9 May Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
