(18/02)Re. : Max Richter concert- voices

Max Richter is my favourite composer. Ever since I was prompted to delve into his music after viewing his ‘On the Nature of Daylight’ used in the opening and closing of the movie ‘Arrival‘, I have been in awe of his work. So come Christmas of 2019, my Dad got me tickets to see him live mid-March.

The concert was at the Barbican centre, a performance of ‘Infra’ followed by his debut of ‘Voices’.

The Ambiance of the room

-The lighting on the stage shifted rotationally through blue to red to yellow.

-Looking like candlelight the pages for the musicians were lit and the light bounced off the sheets in front of them, illuminating their faces

-This gave the feel of intimacy in spite of the colossal size of the room, and where my dad and I were seated on the third tier.

Voices

-The music was based on Eleanor Roosevelt‘s united nations speech, ‘the universal declaration of human rights’.

It can be found at ‘Eleanor Roosevelt’s addresses the United Nations on thee ratification of the Universal Declaration of rights’- on YouTube.

-A key narrator was present, who would speak the main intentions of the declaration that were in the speech over the swelling of the strings and the choir who acted more as an instrument then individual voices. Accompanying them though were the audio recordings of voices of different nationalities, languages and ages of individuals reading the speech, overlapping at different volumes and interludes but ever present.

-His music and its themes were a symbol of hope for unity in these ever dividing times.

I find it intriguing how an idea can be expressed through non lyrical music. Yes emotions can often be found easily but the music and a message beyond the emotions it evoked. I wanted to document this experience in case it is a direction I later come to to express the topic of Dementia.