Brahms’
lullaby is three minutes long. Max Richter’s titular composition is eight
hours. Yet, they both represent the same musical genre, sort of, kind of.
Natalie Johns follows the composer as he prepares for another marathon concert
of the minimalist classical work in Max
Richter’s Sleep, which screened during the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
Frankly,
it is hard to get a sense of Richter’s Sleep
during Johns’ film, because
listeners are meant to immerse themselves in it—and yes, let it lull them to
sleep. Each ambitious performance is appointed with cots for the audience
rather than the typical bucket seats. Obviously, this takes a lot of logistical
and physical preparation, since Richter is on-stage at the piano for something
like seven hours.
It
would be interesting to know what the average deviance is for concert length.
Do musicians ever say: “wow, seven-and-a-half hours, we really galloped through
it.” Are they ever getting the universal “wrap it up quickly” circular hand
gesture after eight-and-a-half hours? A lot of musicians and friends of
musicians will probably have even more questions about the performance
experience itself.
What
we could do without are the shallow reflections from audience members, many of
whom seem intent on making it a political rather than personal experience. At
least Richter and his manager-wife have some intelligent things to say about
the music and process.
