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Max Richter - Sleep
Qobuz 24/96




We decided to give this work another go.
It's been played a lot here!
We own the box, but Qobuz is offering a gapless hi-res stream so...

Though the eight-hour work Sleep is one of the longest single pieces of classical music ever composed and the audience at its premiere were given beds instead of seats, Max Richter's intentions for the work were anything but sensational. Describing it as “an eight-hour personal lullaby for a frenetic world and a manifesto for a slower pace of existence," he consulted neuroscientist David Eagleman as he worked on these soft, gliding compositions for piano, strings, electronics and vocals, taking into account the nuances of dreaming sleep and deep sleep. Designed to be listened to while asleep, the low drones that wind through the work encourage a phase of sleep that consolidates memory and learning -- a process that might seem as thrilling as defragmenting a hard drive, but in Richter's hands, has the same aching-yet-inspiring beauty that has graced his work since The Blue Notebooks.

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