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Max Richter's Sleep

An all-night performance of Max Richter's eight-hour epic, Sleep, his 'lullaby for a frenetic world鈥.

Part of Slow And Mindful, 大象传媒 Radio 3鈥檚 offering of music for the mind in the time of lockdown, Max Richter鈥檚 eight-hour epic Sleep, his 'lullaby for a frenetic world', returns home to the station鈥檚 airwaves with a simulcast with the European Broadcasting Union - uniting quarantined nations across the continent in a search for sleep and moments of meditative stillness.

This was the world premiere performance, a live Radio 3 broadcast in September 2015 鈥 since then, the piece has been staged across the globe, with landmark concerts in Paris, Los Angeles and Sydney. The album of Sleep has recently returned to number one in the USA Billboard classical album charts 鈥 which Billboard attributes to 鈥榗onsumers in coronavirus quarantine at home, seeking out peaceful music鈥.

On the night of Saturday 26th September 2015, in the Reading Room of the Wellcome Collection in London, Max Richter on piano and electronics was joined by soprano Grace Davidson plus five string players, and an audience who were encouraged to lie on beds and sleep through the performance. The work seeks to examine the relationship between music and the subconscious mind: instead of giving the music full concentration, listeners are encouraged to experience it in a state of sleep. The piece indeed provides an apt soundtrack for these times of lockdown 鈥 when hours seemingly stretch into the distance. Sleep offers a mindful way to forget everything going on around us and to enter another world.

Max Richter says of the piece in today's context: "Five years ago I wrote SLEEP as an invitation to pause our busy lives for a moment. Now we are all facing an unexpected and involuntary pause. It is far from easy to adjust to this new normal, which shifts continuously, and brings anxiety and suffering to those we love and to ourselves. At such times the magical ability of creativity to elevate our days and to connect us is more important than ever, and I鈥檓 really happy that the EBU allows us to listen all together across the whole of Europe. Please enjoy this eight-hour place to rest.鈥

Radio 3's 8-hour live broadcast broke two Guinness World Records - for the longest broadcast of a single piece of music, and the longest live broadcast of a single piece of music.

Grace Davidson (soprano)
Steve Morris and Natalia Bonner (violins)
Reiad Chibah (viola)
Ian Burdge and Chris Worsey (cellos)
Chris Ekers (sound design)
Max Richter (piano, keyboards and electronics)

'Sleep' by Max Richter:
1. "Dream 1 (before the wind blows it all away)"
2. "Cumulonimbus"
3. "Dream 2 (entropy)"
4. "Path (7676)"
5. "whose name is written on water"
6. "Patterns (cypher)"
7. "Solo"
8. "Aria 1"
9. "Return 2 (song)"
10. "nor earth, nor boundless sea"
11. "Dream 11 (whisper music)"
12. "moth-like stars"
13. "Path 17 (before the ending of daylight)"
14. "Space 26 (epicardium)"
15. "Patterns (lux)"
16. "Constellation 1"
17. "Constellation 2"
18. "Space 2 (slow waves)"
19. "Chorale/glow"
20. "Dream 19 (pulse)"
21. "Cassiopeia"
22. "Non-eternal"
23. "Song/echo"
24. "Aria 2"
25. "never fade into nothingness"
26. "Return 16 (time capsule)"
27. "if you came this way"
28. "Space 17 (chains)"
29. "Sublunar"
30. "Dream 17 (Alpha)"
31. "Dream 0 (till break of day)"

8 hours

Last on

Sat 11 Apr 2020 23:00

Music Played

  • Max Richter

    Sleep

    Performer: Max Richter. Performer: Grace Davidson. Performer: Natalia Bonner. Performer: Steve Morris. Performer: Reiad Chibah. Performer: Ian Burdge. Performer: Chris Worsey.
  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Cumulonimbus

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Dream 2

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Path 3

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Who's name is written in water?

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Patterns

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Solo

  • Max Richter

    Aria

  • Max Richter

    Return 2

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Nor Earth, nor Boundless Sea

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Dream 11

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Moth-like Stars

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Path 17

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Space 26 (Epicardium)

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Patterns

  • Max Richter

    Constellation 1

  • Max Richter

    Slrrp - Constellation 2

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Space 2 (slow waves)

  • Max Richter

    Chorale (Glow)

  • Max Richter

    Sleep

    Performer: Max Richter. Performer: Grace Davidson. Performer: Natalia Bonner. Performer: Steve Morris. Performer: Reiad Chibah. Performer: Ian Burdge. Performer: Chris Worsey.
  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Dream 19 (pulse)

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Cassiopaiea

  • Max Richter

    Non-eternal

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Song - echo

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Aria 2

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Never fade into nothingness

  • Max Richter

    Return 2 Song

  • Max Richter

    Nor earth, nor boundless sea

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Space 17 (Chains)

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Dream 17 (Alpha)

  • Max Richter

    Sleep - Dream O (til break of day)

Broadcasts

  • Sun 27 Sep 2015 00:00
  • Sat 11 Apr 2020 23:00

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