It is immediately obvious from the haunting stillness, slow paced ethereal loneliness and suffering of the opening track ‘Song’ that ‘Songs From Before’ is not a piece of music to be taken on lightly.
Transcending a face value quality to establish within itself a complete 3D cinematic surround sound of heavily layered orchestral emotions, this is where Max Richter comes into his own and perfectly and effortlessly shows off his skills as being a fully trained composer and pianist.
Punctuating songs with snippets of monologue from Haruki Murakami texts as read by Robert Wyatt and using piano, cello, violin and viola, ‘Songs From Before’ explores music of years gone by. Not always overtly but hidden somewhere within.
The genius in Richter’s work is the simplistic beauty that emerges from the complex arrangement and composition. ‘Fragment’ and ‘Harmonium’ with their almost childish innocence are perfect examples of Richter beckoning the listener ever nearer with his audio opiates towards a dream like state of reachable combined fate and bliss.
The former is a tragic tale of whatever your heart chooses to believe and in the latter you can practically see out of the dewdrop that you have unknowingly been caught up in. So faultless is the timing and execution that you forgive the emotionally draining nature that the music apparently needs in order to work, and willingly jump in both feet first with a blind faith, as somehow you believe in Max Richter and more importantly his music.
This blind faith helps deal with the impending tragedy that seems to be hanging over ‘Songs From Before’ and provides a welcome and rewarding light at the end of a long and dark tunnel but the final track ‘From The Rue Vilin’ fails to provide the promised and now seemingly futile solace.
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But the word that truly encapsulates this collection of devastating music is cinematic. In fact, film scores, installations and countless collaborations are as much a part of Max Richter’s creative output as his music is. But if only there were a film to go hand in hand with ‘Songs From Before’. A visual creation that would allow the listener to see the rain, tears and despair in ‘Flowers For Yulia’; the persecution and mourning strings of ‘Autumn Music 1’ and the wilderness of ‘Time Passing’.
The track listing on ‘Songs From Before’ goes from the deeply involved to the sublime and short such as ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Verses’ with their Kafka-esque monologues read aloud to gentle backing music that stops almost as soon as it starts. But however skilled Max Richter may be at writing fine music, it’s difficult to comfortably present the likes of ‘Songs From Before’ without the aid of visual accompaniment.
This is far from a flaw and more an observation. In fact the only flaw throughout the entire album would be its cold, brutal honesty, which ensures that the music becomes lodged in your head long after listening.
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