# Max Richter: Sleep



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

From the editorial review (on amazon) of a recording of an excerpt of this work (something is wrong with the punctuation, my apologies):



> Acclaimed Brit1sh composer Max Richter has written a new landmark recording: SLEEP is 8 hours long the equivalent of a nights rest and is actually and genuinely intended to send the listener to sleep. Its an eight-hour lullaby, says its composer, Max Richter.
> 
> ... Its my personal lullaby for a frenetic world, he says. A manifesto for a slower pace of existence.
> 
> ...


I love the idea! I really wish I could be there to experience it!

I will buy the 8-hour version as soon as it available and sleep to it eagerly!

IMO, there should also be a 9- or a 10-hour version available for weekends.

But is this getting too close to New Age music? Does it matter? Would you want to hear this, to sleep to it, particularly in a concert-like setting?


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2015)

He's right about it being nothing new 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnium_(album)

Edit: I believe I read somewhere too that Robert Rich did the overnight concert bit too.


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

nathanb said:


> He's right about it being nothing new
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnium_(album)
> 
> Edit: I believe I read somewhere too that Robert Rich did the overnight concert bit too.


Yes, he did. I already looked him up and found out. Thanks for that. I've long been planning to do a bit more exploration of ambient music (and related genres).


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2015)

science said:


> Yes, he did. I already looked him up and found out. Thanks for that. I've long been planning to do a bit more exploration of ambient music (and related genres).


Anywho, on topic, kudos to Richter anyway for investigating this little field. His post-minimal classico-pop was kinda nice but didn't have a ton of staying value for me. Psychoacoustics are my jams these days though


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

nathanb said:


> Anywho, on topic, kudos to Richter anyway for investigating this little field. His post-minimal classico-pop was kinda nice but didn't have a ton of staying value for me. Psychoacoustics are my jams these days though


I don't know what any of those terms mean.... I only know Richter from his remodeling of Vivaldi's _Four Seasons_. I guess that's ok. The only other person I know of that's heard it was PetrB, and he seemed to think less lowly of it than I would've expected, maybe he even respected it.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

Is this truly an experiment? Will Richter or others get feedback that will be used in some way? And if so, is the experiment to better understand the brain during sleep and dreaming (i.e. are neuroscientists involved) or more to play with musical sounds?


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

mmsbls said:


> Is this truly an experiment? Will Richter or others get feedback that will be used in some way? And if so, is the experiment to better understand the brain during sleep and dreaming (i.e. are neuroscientists involved) or more to play with musical sounds?


I would assume "experiment" was being used in its artsy sense....


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

The full length version is available for download.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017XAF70W


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

science said:


> I don't know what any of those terms mean.... I only know Richter from his remodeling of Vivaldi's _Four Seasons_. I guess that's ok. The only other person I know of that's heard it was PetrB, and he seemed to think less lowly of it than I would've expected, maybe he even respected it.


I quite like his _Four Seasons_ too.

There's a piece by Richter on the superb soundtrack to the Scorsese film _Shutter Island_ called "On the Nature of Daylight", which is a lovely bit of post-classical, but there's also a version of the piece that's overlaid with Dinah Washington singing "This Bitter Earth", which is extraordinary.

("Post-classical" to me means that listeners who don't know much classical music will assume it's classical music, while listeners who do know classical music might be OK with it; the main point is that post-classical composers aren't bothered about pigeon-holing it as classical or not-classical.)


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Richter is a great composer of classical 'lite'. Most of it sounds like a soundtrack to a non existing film.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

In defense of Richter, Whitacre et al., I think this type of music has the potential to serve as a gateway to more 'serious' classical music. It did for me. While I wasn't listening to those composers in my late teens, I was listening to music that sounded very, very much like this music. Forty years later, here I am :tiphat:


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

That's too bad (classical) music can't put me to sleep though. I'd be up the whole 8 hours so it would be torture instead. D:


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## tortkis (Jul 13, 2013)

I couldn't listen to Sleep while sleeping (I cannot listen to any music in my sleep), but it is a wonderful work of ambient music. I heard the first 2 and a half hours so far. It consists of ostinato like Ten Holt, but sweeter, with an atmospheric accompaniment like Eno or Budd, but less otherworldly. (I think that is good for the purpose of the work.)


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

The post-recording reverb seems very new age. I have no problem with new age or ambient if it's good however. 

I often sleep to a Spotify new age playlist. I started the habit after sleeping to more difficult 20th/21st century classical in the hopes it would sink in subliminally or some such. Then I moved on to other genres such as dark ambient and new age on the off chance these would effect my dreams. So far i have found no correlation between genre and dream quality, but I do enjoy more difficult music than I used to.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

I can name many Composers that put me to sleep in a lot shorter time allotment


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Thought I'd share this article on the subject: Songs in the key of zzz - The history of sleep music

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/9738-songs-in-the-key-of-zzz-the-history-of-sleep-music/


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

I've had many bedtime sessions with music myself (mostly ambient music), so I guess I have some experience in this area. Most of the time I used headphones, but sometimes I would even put speakers at both sides of the bed, aligned exactly at pillow height. I used to do this during my student years, when I wasn't really tired at the end of the day.  These days I simply fall asleep too fast.

Falling asleep with music can be nice, but once you're in a deep sleep I don't think there are any further effects from the music. It's that fuzzy state between being fully awake and fully asleep that's really interesting. I've had some wonderful experiences with music while repeatedly dozing off a little and waking up again.


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## seven four (Apr 2, 2016)

I can't sleep to music any more, but it's a nice idea.

I do like the music, not "new age" but simple and minimal. Very much influenced by '90s ambient textures and soundtracks.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Most rock music puts me to sleep. My brain seems to interpret it as static noise.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

My brother-in-law used to go to sleep to Billy Idol, his "White Wedding" album. It was then that I realized his brain was quite different from mine.

I heard my first Hans Richter, something called Dream # 13 on the radio. I liked it a lot, and I have heard a lot of ambient music before this, so I consider it to be exceptional for this sort of thing.

Also, I heard Banf On A Can do an actual real-instrument performance of Brian Eno's Music for Airports, and was very impressed. This showed me that "ambient" music could be worked-in to the classical repertoire and actually gain some cred.


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## seven four (Apr 2, 2016)

millionrainbows said:


> Also, I heard Banf On A Can do an actual real-instrument performance of Brian Eno's Music for Airports, and was very impressed. This showed me that "ambient" music could be worked-in to the classical repertoire and actually gain some cred.


They do.

Minimalism!


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## regenmusic (Oct 23, 2014)

Not so much about Richter as I don't believe in attacking living composers, but it's sad enough when classical went under the sway of purely academic noisey/atonal stuff, now it seems a segment is under the sway of "classical lite." I hope we can find some composers in the middle.


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## seven four (Apr 2, 2016)

regenmusic said:


> Not so much about Richter as I don't believe in attacking living composers, but it's sad enough when classical went under the sway of purely academic noisey/atonal stuff, now it seems a segment is under the sway of "classical lite." I hope we can find some composers in the middle.


Sometimes simple is OK.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

seven four said:


> Sometimes simple is OK.


Words right out of my mouth :tiphat:


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## boogie624 (Jul 21, 2018)

Hi guys,
I'd be really happy If you would have a moment to check out my new composition and let me know what you think. I recorded my composition in Mimara Museum in Zagreb, Croatia and did a short video to capture the moment. 
Thanks in advance,
Matej


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