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DVDfever.co.uk – Max Richter: Memoryhouse CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
Fat Cat Records
- Released: Out now
- Rating: 10/10++
2002 re-issue of Richters post-classical masterpiece.
Now this is some album – Breathtaking.
Recorded at BBC Manchester and available originally on the BBCs short lived Late Junction label, Memoryhouse gets a welcomed re-issue.
German born Richter studied composition and piano at the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Academy Of Music and with Luciano Berio in Florence, so this guy knows his onions. He then formed modern classical ensemble Piano Circus, which he was a member of for ten years. They made five albums for Decca/Argo.After seven years and three other solo albums, Richters epic is given the Fat Cat treatment with a full blown release.
Recorded with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the work of eastern bloc composers like Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov comes to mind particularly in the simplest of sonic experiences that are considered avante garde. The flavours are very much steeped in memory of post war Europe. Memoryhouse is an exploration of real and imaginary stories and histories with melodies that disappear using linked pieces through assorted themes, motifs and variations that appear and reappear. Just like the PR blurb, it does exactly what it says : its (occasionally) bright, sparkling, warming, heartbreaking, rousing and most definitely gripping. More than that, it has depth and beauty.The whispered open vocal, rain, ominous piano and sombre violin on Europe, After The Rain, create a tense but beautiful prefix for the entire collection, as you get visuals of the aftermath of the genocide at German concentration camps, not that it was probably intended that way, but you can feel some collective mourning going on : its very dramatic and powerful despite the deliberate minimalist template.
The apocalyptic theme continues on the moving Maria, The Poet (1913) as the sweeping strings follow the spoken introduction.Laikas Journey, a short piece, has a space-like quality thats intended to recreate the tragic journey of the Soviet 3 year-old mongrel stray Laika, that was the first living creature to orbit our planet in Sputnik 2. It died shortly after take off probably due to stress and overheating.
After the delicate piano tinkling of The Twins comes the jewel in a very large crown Sarajevo. Rousing orchestration accompanied by lyric- less vocal of stunning proportions, enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck shiver not stand up.Untitled is a quirky and menacing but fascinating 3-minutes worth of modern techno twiddling and swooning orchestration.
Lifting the melancholic mood, November is a stirring violin lead excursion into post classical pomp with shades of Vivaldis Four Seasons with rotating motifs enough to blow you away.Dutch composer Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, one of the first great keyboard composers of Europe straddling the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods, gets a touching tribute. The ode is simply played out on a harpsichord. Then the harpsichord returns on the divine Garden, this time supported by violin.
An all-too-short Fragment is one that should have been explored further because theres plenty in its magnificent 1 minute 27 seconds that could have been developed.In pure classical terms, Embers give an undoubted nod to Mozart. The rolling and haunting piano gives way to equally haunting violin solos.
After a sequence of low key compositions, the album finally explodes with the all the pomp and circumstance of classical eastern bloc bombast Last Days – full-on horns and strings that swirl into a monster crescendo.The album limps out on a sad and heartbreaking tone with understated strings and horns Quartet Fragment.
The verdict One word AWESOME.
Weblink:maxrichter.com /myspace.com/maxrichtermusic (audio samples)
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Europe After The Rain
2. Maria, The Poet (1913)
3. Laikas Journey
4. The Twins (Prague)
5. Sarajevo
6. Andras
7. Untitled (Figures)
8. Sketchbook
9. November
10. Jans Notebook
11. Arbenita (11 Years)
12. Garden (1973) / Interior
13. Landscape With Figure (1922)
14. Fragrant
15. Lines On A Page (One Hundred Violins)
16. Embers
17. Last Days
18. Quartet Fragment (1908)
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.