Sound Lounge brings you a lullaby of epic proportions – Max Richter’s Sleep. It’s the German-born British composer’s “personal lullaby for a frenetic world” scored for piano, strings, electronics and vocals without words.
The public premiere in Berlin was held at former East German Powerplant ‘Kraftwerk’ and since then Sleep has been heard by slumbering audiences all over the world, including the 2018 Auckland Arts Festival.
Max Richter has loved sleeping since he was a child and to create this experience he consulted a neuroscientist to learn more about the human brain functions while sleeping. “For me,” he says, “Sleep is an attempt to see how that space when your conscious mind is on holiday, can be a place for music to live.”
Richter performs on a range of keyboard instruments throughout the work. He plays piano, organ, synthesisers and electronics. He’s also joined by the musicians of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and the lilting soprano voice of Grace Davidson.
Sleep is a healthy eight hours long and holds the record for the longest piece of music ever broadcast live when it played on the BBC. It’s designed to be listened to at night, while lying down and audience members at live performances of Sleep are given a camp bed and a snack, and encouraged to nod off during the eight-hour overnight performance.
Source: Radio NZ