Late and Soon
I am certain the only time I’ve made mention of Max Richter before was in connection with his re-write of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. I always enjoy when a new edition comes out, although my original recognition of his work was with the Netflix show, Chef’s Table, where I recognized that someone had changed Vivaldi’s original. My thoughts went to Richter and low and behold, I’d correctly guessed it was him.
Today I came across a 2-track release from last month entitled Late and Soon. It’s immediately recognizable as a Richter piece, following a seemingly familiar harmonic sequence. The first track is a shorter version of the longer piece, which clocks in at 3:19 vs. 7:10. One description I found of the piece said: “soothing balm of sonics that epitomises Max Richter’s painterly flair.” See Clash.
Remarkably the piece’s credit only goes to three musicians: Max Baillie, Eloisa-Fleur Thom, and Max Ruisi. (What the odds that three Maxes would collaborate!) At times the higher violin seems to mimic the sound of either an oboe or soprano sax. The differences in timbre I thought were clever, revealing more to this than just a short, chordal sequence.
There’s little question about the composer’s pedigree with film music, it most definitely has a cinematic type of longing to the slowly moving harmony. I am amazed at how his pieces seem so simply structured. He’s got a nice sequence that can just repeat and with the noodling from the different instruments on top. I remember one of my composition teachers once telling me that my own harmonic sequences were too regular. “Try leaving 4/4 time, and holding some of these shorter, others longer; don’t make everything sound so regular!”
Despite the regularity in Richter’s music, and this is a great example, I can’t help but to be drawn to it. “A soothing balm of sonics” is quite a phrase, and I think it’s perfect to describe the effect it can have on us. No disrespect to Richter, but the utility of this piece seems akin to one of the environments in Apple’s VisionPro, like an escape from reality. Maybe we just need to escape and this is either a 3- or 7-minute take at closing our eyes and leaving the real world behind?
At any rate, with such little actual music material, it hardly needs a review. But nevertheless, I thought I’d share. It somehow captured my emotions as I cooked dinner ahead of watching the final episode of Netflix’s The Boyfriend. More on that elsewhere at another time. But across the season of that show, such a wide gamut of emotions and experiences, cast in such a positive setting with strangers who ultimately become friends, with a few potentially leaving as lovers.
Whatever resonates with you—this piece may well capture those emotions for you.
