Max Richter

Biography

Richter trained in composition and piano at University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy of Music, and with Luciano Berio in Florence. After finishing his studies, Richter co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble Piano Circus, with which he stayed for ten years, commissioning and performing works by Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe and Steve Reich. The ensemble was signed to Decca/Argo, producing five albums.

In 1996, he worked with Future Sound of London on their album Dead Cities, initially starting as a pianist but ending up working on several tracks as well as co-writing one track (titled "Max").^[1] Richter subsequently collaborated with FSOL over a period of two years, also contributing to the albums The Isness^[2] and The Peppermint Tree and Seeds of Superconsciousness.^[3]

In 2000, Richter collaborated with Mercury Prize winner Roni Size on the Reprazent album In the Mode.^[4]

In 2002, Richter composed an eighteen-track album, Memoryhouse, featuring sounds from nature and recordings of voices as well as readings of poetry in other languages. The album went out of print several years later, but is now again available. Four tracks (“Europe, After the Rain”, “The Twins (Prague)”, “Fragment“, and “Embers”) were used in the six-part 2005 BBC documentary Auschwitz: The Nazis and the ‘Final Solution’ produced by Laurence Rees.

In 2005, Richter produced the Vashti Bunyan album Lookaftering.

In 2006, Richter's tracks "On the Nature of Daylight" and "Horizon Variations" were used in Marc Forster's film Stranger than Fiction. "On the Nature of Daylight" was also used in Martin Scorsese's 2010 film Shutter Island.

In 2007, Richter worked on Waltz with Bashir, an animated documentary by Ari Folman. His first U.S. performance was on November 28 at the Good-Shepherd Faith Church, New York, as part of the Wordless Music Series.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, Richter produced the Kelli Ali album Rocking Horse and released in September his fourth solo album, 24 Postcards in Full Colour. The album is an experimental collection of miniatures for mobile phones. The pieces are a series of variations on the basic material, scored for strings, piano and electronics.^[5]

In 2009, Richter composed the scores for Feo Aladag's film Die Fremde (together with Stéphane Moucha) and for Renato De Maria's film La prima linea. Memoryhouse, Richter's long out of print debut album, was reissued on November 3. The album was recorded by Richter with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2010, Dinah Washington's voice singing "This Bitter Earth" was remixed with Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight" for the Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island, and the soundtrack was released in January. In July 2010, "On The Nature Of Daylight" and "Vladimir's Blues" were used throughout the BBC Two two-part drama "Dive" co-written by Bafta award winning Dominic Savage and Simon Stevens.

(Aus wikipedia)