MAX RICHTER – THE BLUE NOTEBOOKS, 20TH-ANNIVERSARY EDITION

The groundbreaking composer’s landmark 2004 album
is to be reissued digitally and as an exclusive vinyl edition

Both versions feature a brand-new track,
On The Nature Of Daylight (Piano Version) – listen here

Richter is also setting out on his first ever world tour,
performing The Blue Notebooks and his latest album, In A Landscape

“It opens with On The Nature Of Daylight … a gorgeous slow-build of a composition …
The rest of the set continues in the same mesmeric fashion … A sensational start to Saturday.”
The Guardian, reviewing Richter’s performance of The Blue Notebooks at Glastonbury 2023

Max Richter had never even been to the Glastonbury Festival before he opened the Park Stage on Saturday 24 June 2023. He and his string ensemble were joined by Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton for a full-length performance of The Blue Notebooks, Richter’s second album, originally released in 2004. Photos from the Glastonbury gig now feature in the 20th-anniversary vinyl edition of The Blue Notebooks soon to be issued by Deutsche Grammophon.

The set of 2 crystal-clear vinyl LPs is packaged in a newly-designed blue gatefold sleeve, with a six-page booklet and art card. Available exclusively from the DG store, it includes all the tracks from the expanded 2018 edition, together with the This Bitter Earth/On The Nature Of Daylight mash-up – appearing for the first time on vinyl – and a brand-new solo piano version of On The Nature Of Daylight. Also released as a digital deluxe version, the album comes out on 31 January 2025. On The Nature Of Daylight (Piano Version) is released for download and streaming on 8 November 2024.

Its title inspired by The Blue Octavo Notebooks, a collection of writings by Franz Kafka, The Blue Notebooks was composed in 2003. Introducing it to the Glastonbury crowd last year, Max Richter said, “It’s kind of a protest record, a response to what was happening in politics around the build-up to the Iraq war where I was really struck with doubt about what was happening. And I thought about Kafka, who’s the patron saint of doubt, and I thought about making a piece which expressed everything, and so we recorded this.”

Written for strings and electronics, Richter’s meditative tracks are structured around Tilda Swinton’s readings from Kafka and the work of Polish poet Czesław Miłosz (whom the composer calls the “anti-Kafka”). Earlier this year, independent music blog Stereogum summed the album up as follows: “The Blue Notebooks is uncertain, melancholy, aching for peace. And its genius was in avoiding a rallying cry altogether. Instead, it was a balm in recognizing the futility around us.”

While Richter’s first album, Memoryhouse, was unjustly overlooked on its original release, The Blue Notebooks garnered acclaim from the start. Its tracks have since appeared in countless TV and film soundtracks, including Waltz with Bashir, The Leftovers, Shutter Island, Arrival, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Last of Us.

This season, Max Richter takes The Blue Notebooks on the road as he embarks on his first ever world tour, accompanied by hand-picked string ensembles. The concerts will also feature the music from Richter’s newly-released ninth studio album, In A Landscape (“elegiac and resigned yet quietly triumphant” – Pitchfork). As he explains, his latest recording shares many of the concerns of The Blue Notebooks: “In a way this record is another look at the themes of the earlier work, but from the perspective of our world and our lives in 2024.”

Max Richter: In a Landscape/The Blue Notebooks world tour dates:  

2024

28 October Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow · 30/31 October National Concert Hall, Dublin

4 November  Bridgewater Hall, Manchester · 5 November  Symphony Hall, Birmingham,

6 November  Beacon Hall, Bristol Beacon · 8/9 November  Royal Festival Hall, London

16 November (matinee & evening perfs)  Philharmonie, Paris · 18/19 November  Admiralspalast, Berlin

22 November  Oslo Opera House · 23 November  Konserthuset, Stockholm

25 November  DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen · 26 November  Laeiszhalle, Hamburg

28 November  Royal Theatre Carré, Amsterdam · 30 November  Bozar, Brussels

1 December  Queen Elisabeth Hall, Antwerp · 2 December  Kurhaus Wiesbaden

4 December  Isarphilharmonie, Munich · 5 December  Philharmonie Luxembourg

2025

10/11 February  QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane · 14/15 February  Sydney Opera House

17/18 February  Hamer Hall, Melbourne · 20 February  Town Hall, Adelaide

23 February  Riverside Theatre, Perth · 26 February  Dubai Opera

26 April  Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston · 29 April  Massey Hall, Toronto

2 May  Kennedy Center, Washington, DC · 3 May  Brooklyn Academy of Music

4 May  The Met Philadelphia · 6 May  Symphony Center, Chicago

8 May  Fox Theater, Oakland · 9 May  Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles