Vivaldi The Four Seasons Recomposed&

Infra

MAX RICHTERWITH WORDLESS MUS IC ORCHESTRA

Melbourne Recital Centre presents

MONDAY 24 NOVEMBERELISABETH MURDOCH HALL

Composer, pianist, producer, collaborator extraordinaire: Max Richter defies definition. An enigma he may be; what is beyond argument is that he is one of the most prolific musical artists of his generation. The result is a monumental body of work encompassing concert music, operas, ballets, art and video installations, multiple film, theatre and television scores and a series of acclaimed solo albums incorporating poetry and literature.

Born in Germany and brought to Britain as a small boy, Max began taking piano lessons at a young age. His fast-growing knowledge of classical music was tempered by his discovery of punk rock: a voyage of discovery that continued through Stockhausen and the American minimalists.

He studied at Edinburgh University, graduated to the Royal Academy of Music and completed his studies in Florence under the influential avant-garde composer Luciano Berio.

Max’s musical education culminated in the release of his first solo album in 2002, memoryhouse, on BBC’s Late Junction label. It was an album which pre-figured a new movement blurring the boundaries between classical and popular music. Commenting on its extensive influence, Pitchfork has said: “In 2002, Richter’s ability to weave subtle electronics against the grand BBC Philharmonic Orchestra helped suggest new possibilities and locate fresh audiences that composers such as Nico Muhly and Michał Jacaszek have since pursued. As you listen to new work by Julianna Barwick or Jóhann Jóhanznson, thank Richter; just as Sigur Rós did with its widescreen rock, Richter showed that crossover wasn’t necessarily an artistic curse.”

Max’s subsequent acclaimed releases on cult-indie label Fatcat further cemented his position as a leading figure in the now thriving indieclassical movement.

Max’s music has also formed the basis of numerous dance works, including most famously his ballet for Wayne McGregor, Infra, as well as pieces by Lucinda Childs, Netherlands Dance Theatre, Ballet du Rhin, American Ballet Theatre, Dresden Semperoper, Dutch National Ballet and Norwegian National Ballet.

Recent commissions include the chamber opera Sum (based on David Eagleman’s acclaimed book), for The Royal Opera House, London and Mercy, for Hilary Hahn.

In the art world, Richter has composed the soundscape The Anthropocene for Darren Almond’s film installation at London’s White Cube gallery (2010) and has twice collaborated with digital art collective rAndom International, contributing scores to the installations Future Self (Berlin 2012) and Rain Room (Barbican 2012/MOMA 2013).

His film scores include the award-winning Waltz with Bashir (2007) for Israeli director Ari Folman, and currently on screens, The Leftovers (HBO), for Damon Lindelof, the creator and executive producer of the TV series Lost.

2015 will see Max writing a new full-length ballet, continuing his collaboration with Wayne McGregor and The Royal Ballet, and the release of his next album on his new label Deutsche Grammaphon.

MAX R ICHTER

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Recomposed (2012) Vivaldi – The Four Seasons

1 Spring 0 – 3

2 Summer 1 – 3

3 Autumn 1 – 3

4 Winter 1 – 3

Max Richter Electronics

Keyboards

Yuki Numata ResnickViolin

Direction

Wordless Music Orchestra

Interval

Infra (2010)Max Richter

ElectronicsKeyboards

Piano

WORDLESS MUSIC ENSEMBLE

Pauline Kim HarrisConrad Harris

Violin

Caleb BurhansViola

Brian SnowClarice Jensen

Cello

MAX RICHTER (1966 – )

P ROGRAM

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Recomposed By Max Richter: Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons

By Julian Day

I remember my shock when I learnt that Tchaikovsky didn’t write The Nutcracker for a pizza ad. Classical music, with its tempting lack of royalties, has long been a licit drug for advertisers. Certain pieces have sold so many disparate products that even their most heartfelt moments can numb us. Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons is a cautionary example. One can’t overestimate the ubiquity of the Baroque concerti that a century ago – notably, before television – were barely remembered.

“As a child it was one of the first bits of concert music I got to know,” explains Max Richter. “I was entranced by the wonderful melodies, great drama and fantastic images. Growing up I became aware of hearing it all over the place, but mostly as jingles – in advertising, in elevators, on the telephone. Basically everywhere except the concert hall. My overall impression was of this aural wallpaper surrounding us. And I just fell out of love with it.”

His solution was to ‘re-compose’ the score for the 21st century listener through his own lens. “I set out to reconnect with it in another way, to find a new route through this beautiful landscape that Vivaldi’s made for us. To discover new things in it and engage with it afresh.”

Vivaldi wrote over 500 concerti yet his 1725 series remains the most popular. Their exuberance, colour and motoric energy became a natural fit for Richter, drawing on his long immersion in pop, electronica and post-minimalism. “From a technical perspective I realised that Vivaldi’s music is uniquely suited to this sort of approach. He writes these modular structures and knits them together. When you glance at his material you might think ‘oh that’s Louis Andriessen or John Adams’. On the page it looks like systems or pattern music which was for me a brilliant way in.”

Vivaldi’s originals have yielded countless arrangements, for jazz band, koto ensemble and surf guitar. There’s even a spoken word version by the ubiquitous William Shatner. Richter’s take is comparatively straight, retaining the core of violin and strings but adding a Moog synthesizer. This

live version incorporates low-key electronic interventions within the acoustic lines, especially the double bass (Richter is “a self-confessed bass addict”).

Richter was born in Germany and moved to Britain as a child, studying piano and composition in Edinburgh, London and Florence. He spent a decade with the ensemble Piano Circus whilst slowly developing his multi-layered musical approach. 2004’s elegiac The Blue Notebooks features actor Tilda Swinton reciting Franz Kafka whilst 2010’s dance score Infra references

T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Schubert’s Winterreise alongside the 1995 London bombings,

“like walking around a sculpture depicting these events.”

In the short story Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote, Jorge Luis Borges’ fictional character rewrites Cervantes’ work so perfectly that his new version is identical. It is, perhaps, superior because its recontextualization helps us understand the original more deeply. Richter may here have rejected much of Vivaldi’s material (“I’ve probably thrown away three quarters of the notes”) yet he allows us to re-examine a work that for too many years has been obscured by its own success.

“I wanted to make the piece because

I loved the Vivaldi and it was my

way of having a conversation with

Vivaldi.”–

MAX RICHTER

© Julian Day

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PERFORMERS

Wordless Music Orchestra is the house band of New York City’s Wordless Music series, which was founded by non-musician Ronen Givony in 2006 and has since presented concerts in museums, churches, nightclubs, and out of doors, pairing artists from the sound worlds of so-called classical, electronic, and rock music. Comprising New York’s most omnivorous young musicians, and members of groups such as Alarm Will Sound, ACME, and Ensemble Signal, the orchestra presented its first concerts over two sold-out nights in January 2008 under conductor Brad Lubman, with the U.S. premiere of Jonny Greenwood’s Popcorn Superhet Receiver, on a program with music of Gavin Bryars and John Adams.

In 2009, Arvo Pärt’s Symphony No. 4 (“Los Angeles”) had its New York premiere by the Wordless Music Orchestra under conductor Jeffrey Milarsky in two concerts at which the orchestra also performed alongside the Japanese instrumental noise-rock band MONO. These performances with MONO were released by Brooklyn’s Temporary Residence label as Holy Ground: NYC Live with the Wordless Music Orchestra, a limited-edition CD/DVD/LP set. Also in 2009, the orchestra recorded with Tyondai Braxton for Central Market, the composer’s solo debut on Warp Records, and went on tour the following year with Braxton to Alice Tully Hall, the Library of Congress, and Walker Art Center.

In 2010, the WMO performed alongside the Hilliard Ensemble and Latvian National Choir as part of Lincoln Center’s inaugural White Light Festival, in world premiere compositions for orchestra by Kjartan Sveinsson and Jónsi Birgisson of Sigur Rós with his partner, Alex Somers; and the following year at the Guggenheim Museum rotunda in a unique collaboration with visual artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster for Gavin Bryars’ The Sinking of the Titanic.

On September 11, 2011, the WMO performed a memorial concert for the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the world premiere orchestration of William Basinski’s Disintegration Loop 1.1. In 2012, the orchestra returned to the Met Museum to play with the Danish indie-pop band Efterklang, and performed the U.S. premiere of Jóhann Jóhannsson’s The Miners’ Hymns (with film by Bill Morrison) at the Winter Garden.

In 2013, the orchestra performed a world premiere live score to the film Beasts of the Southern Wild for an outdoor audience of 7,000 at Prospect Park in Brooklyn; with the legendary Kranky ambient duo Stars of the Lid at Brooklyn’s Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help; with the UK electronic band Goldfrapp for the group’s album release show at the Beacon Theatre; and with musical icon John Cale as part of the BAM Next Wave Festival.

In 2014, the Wordless Music Orchestra performs live with Jonny Greenwood at the Big Ears festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, and in two live film score performances to Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood; a world-premiere orchestration of Mike Oldfield’s 1973 classic, Tubular Bells; and at London’s Barbican Centre for the European premiere of Beasts of the Southern Wild Live.

In 2015, the orchestra will make its Los Angeles debut with composer/conductor Mica Levi in the US premiere of Under the Skin Live, and will perform the NYC premieres of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and Pablo Berger’s Blancanieves.

Max Richter Piano, keyboard, electronics

Chris Ekers Sound Engineer

WORDLESS MUSIC ORCHESTRA

Violin Yuki Numata Resnick

Pala Garcia

Conrad Harris

Pauline Kim Harris

Patti Kilroy

Laura Lutzke

Caitlin Lynch

Jessica McJunkins

Ben Russell

Viola Caleb Burhans

Jeanann Seidman

Karen Waltuch

Erin Wight

BassDoug Balliett

Logan Coale

Eleonore Oppenheim

CelloClarice Jensen

Clara Kennedy

Brian Snow

Caitlin Sullivan

HarpNuiko Wadden

Harpsichord Timo Andres

WORDLESS MUSIC ORCHESTRA BIOGRAPHY

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MUSIC CIRCLE PATRONS PROGRAM

LEADERSHIP CIRCLESThe Leadership Circles comprise individual lead donors whose gifts of $20,000, $10,000 and $5000 support the Centre’s eight program pillars.

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MUSIC CIRCLE PATRONSMagnum Opus Circle ($20,000+)The Playking Foundation

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Composers Circle ($4000+)Anonymous (2) Andrea Goldsmith Alison & David Lansley Drs Victor & Karen Wayne Lyn Williams am Melbourne Recital Centre Senior Management Message Consultants Australia Pty Ltd

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Supporters ($500+)Anonymous (2) David Bardas Ingrid Braun The Hon Mary Delahunty Vivien and Jacob Fajgenbaum Margaret & Baden Hagger David & Rosemary Houseman George & Grace Kass Peter & Barbara Kolliner Ann Lahore Kaye Salisbury & Bart Wissink Greg Shalit & Miriam Faine Barry & Barbara Shying John & Myriam Wylie

ENCORE BEQUEST PROGRAMThe Encore Bequest program provides sustained support for all aspects of our core concert program, artist development and accessibility initiatives, through our Public Fund.

Anonymous (2)Betty Amsden ao

Jenny AndersonBarbara BlackmanKen BullenJim Cousins ao & Libby CousinsDr Garry JoslinThe Estate of Beverley Shelton & Martin SchönthalMary Vallentine ao

ELISABETH MURDOCH CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT FUNDNamed after the Centre’s Founding Patron, this Fund supports projects that make a real difference to young artists and accessibility to music.

($20,000+)Annamila Pty Ltd

($10,000+)Mrs Margaret S Ross am & Dr Ian C Ross

($4000+)Anonymous (1)Betty Amsden ao

The Late Harold Campbell-Pretty & Krystyna Campbell-PrettyDr Alastair JacksonIn memory of Malcolm DouglasYvonne Von Hartel am & Robert Peck am

Janet Whiting & Phil Lukies

($2500+)Naomi Golvan & George Golvan qc*Peter B Murdoch qc*Dr Cherilyn Tillman & Mr Tam VuGlobal Leadership Foundation

($1000+)Anonymous (2)Barbara BurgeJustice David Byrne*John & Thelma CastlesJim Cousins ao & Libby CousinsAndrew & Theresa DyerPenny & Grant FowlerDr Jane Gilmour oam

Robert & Jan GreenProf Andrea Hull ao

Dr Garry Joslin & Prof Dimity Reed am

Michael & Silvia KantorDiana LempriereSally MacIndoeDr Richard Mills am

Elizabeth O’Keeffe*Prof David Penington ac & Mrs Sonay PeningtonLady Primrose Potter ac

Meredith Schilling*

($500+)Anonymous (1)Ingrid Braun*The Hon Mary DelahuntyHans & Petra HenkellDr Robert HetzelThe Hon Sen Rod Kemp mp & Ms Daniele KempTravis Pemberton

*Legal Friends of Melbourne Recital Centre

List of patrons accurate as of 11 November 2014

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RECOMPOSEDCD & DVD Deluxe Edition

BERLIN BY OVERNIGHTVinyl only

RETROSPECTIVE 4-CD SETThe Blue Notebooks · Songs from Before

24 Postcards in Full Colour · Infra

M A X R I C H T E R w i l l s i g n a l b u m s a t t h e c o n c l u s i o n o f t h i s c o n c e r t

MaxRichter_HPH_A5_Layout 1 13/11/2014 12:36 pm Page 1

Brooklyn’s acclaimed indie rock darlings The Antlers bring their haunted tales of love unmoored to Melbourne for one performance.

With the release of their critically acclaimed fifth studio album Familiars, Peter Silberman, Darby Cicci and Michael Lerner assume a newfound hopefulness with nine sparkling tracks that shimmer with operatic vigor. Don’t miss your chance to see The Antlers bring these songs to life.

‘The Antlers magnify private sorrows to overwhelming scale, creating grand anthems’ The New York Times

Book tickets, $50, at melbournerecital.com.au or (03) 9699 3333

THE ANTLERSBROOKLYN’S EPIC INDIE ROCKERSSaturday 14 February / 8pm