Customer Reviews

Memoryhouse

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I heard a few phrases of Richter on the radio, his use of static delighted and moved me -- so I ordered the CD. It speaks to the most solitary part of me, reminds me of being a child falling asleep in the afternoon, voices muted and far away and the sounds of the world a jumble. But Richter is not an innocent. This music is sober and full of grief. It is written for the 21st century as we look back in anguish and as we look forward with terror. This is not music for the faint of heart.

The one other review for this product casts the CD in a wildly unfair light. Even that reviewer notes how great the music is, but gives it only 3 stars because of Amazon's customer service. Consequently I want to set the record a bit straighter.

I first learned of Max Richter through a BBC TV drama called "Dive," in which "On the Nature of Daylight", a piece from his 2004 release, Blue Notebooks, was used extensively. Since then I've become a little obsessed with that CD and am now subsequently enamored with "Memoryhouse".

The pieces here are vast in ambition and scope, with electronics, strings, and full orchestra coexisting beautifully within layered compositions that leave enough room for breath and imagination. As an indicator of how cinematic Richter's style is, Martin Scorcese has used his work, on "Shutter Island".

All this said, Richter has a very populist edge to his work. For example, he worked with Roni Size and Massive Attack, so if you're familiar with their work you're likely to love Richter's. My dream team, I think, would be Richter and Rob Dougan working together. (If you've never enjoyed Dougan's absolutely amazing Furious Angels, on which appears the club-anthem "Clubbed to Death" track, you should fix that situation immediately and without pause for thought or reflection.

This album must be in the best place in your discotheque (or bibliotheque) with Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and so on....

Max Richter: a great composer.

Phil.

[...]

Lets start off this review with me saying the music found on this record is simply amazing. The talent of Max Richter is far beyond his current contemporaries. This album is THE perfect example of that; it is beautiful. Cinematic - romantic - sad- joyous - the themes & emotions are full on this record. I couldn't even begin to pick one song over another, the entire album is a wonderful listen from start to finish. If you are reading this wondering if you should listen to Richter for the first time - absolutely, and this is a great start. I would give this record FIVE STARS for the music alone.

My complaints are with Amazon and with the manufacturer, not the composer.

The record first shipped, after I preordered, with it being totally bent up and messed up right out of the box. I didn't even unseal it - amazon shipped another right away, which was great. The only problem is I told them that it was bent to hell - so what did they do? shipped me yet another one bent up, only not as messed up this time. Not cool amazon.

The problem with the record itself - the music is very quiet. Now I know already this is cinematic, mood music with piano and strings and such - at times it can be a bit quiet, that isn't the problem. The problem is the overall volume is actually too low. I can hear the audio of the vinyl revolving on my turntable. This is the very first time in the three years I've had this turntable that I've had to turn the volume up that loud to where I can hear the actual revolution of the record. There is also quite a bit of popping and crackling, which I expect from vinyl but not as much with a brand new album like this.

I thought perhaps my needle was beginning to mess up - or something was wrong with the turntable itself. I put on Max Richter's 24 Postcards in Full Color album - no noise, no troubles. The volume was much louder without turning it up. I put on several other records including albums from Michael Hoenig, Tangerine Dream, Vangelis & Terry Riley - all of which rely on the dynamics of the shifts in volume...none of them were noisey or had volume issues.

I hate to give a poor review for anything related to Richter - as he is one of the most inspiring musicians I've ever heard in my life, but the actual product you're getting here is a bit crappy...and I'm not sure its worth the 20 bucks or so. I'm considering shelling out double the price in the near future to purchase the original vinyl release, in hopes it sounds better. I just hope the reissues of Blue Notebooks & Songs From Before will be of higher quality.