MAX RICHTER

VOICES

Genre: MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT

Boomkat Product Review:

Modern classical maestro Max Richter takes his turn at easing the world’s woes, or at least provide space for reflection on them, by setting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to music in with the ambitious Voices project

Inspired by the 1948 UN document which takes on a particular poignance in the times, ’Voices’ is offered as a “musical message of hope” that uses readings of the historic agreement in myriad languages. From initial submissions of 100s of reading recordings in over 70 languages, Richter’s final selection are blended with an “upside-down orchestra”, whatever the chuff that is, to create a perhaps predictably elegiac but hopeful atmosphere. Results are divided into vocal mixes and their instrumentals over corresponding discs, featuring the range of voices set to sweeping keys, strings and choral backdrops in Richter’s surefire, tear-jerking style.

Max Richter explains, “I like the idea of a piece of music as a place to think, and it is clear we all have some thinking to do at the moment. We live in a hugely challenging time and, looking around at the world we have made, it’s easy to feel hopeless or angry. But, just as the problems we face are of our own making, so their solutions are within our reach, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is something that offers us a way forward. Although it isn’t a perfect document, the declaration does represent an inspiring vision for the possibility of better and kinder world.”

2LP (10)