Doorstep Discovery

Donald Macleod speaks to trailblazing composer Max Richter about his musical beginnings.

German-born British musician Max Richter is one of the most influential composers of his generation. A streaming sensation with over 3 billion listens, he blends classical and electronic elements in his music and is just as at home on 6Music as on Radio 3. He’s a producer, pianist and serial collaborator whose trailblazing work ranges from ballets and orchestral works to major Hollywood scores and solo albums. At his studio in rural Oxfordshire, Donald sits down with Max to talk about his musical life, from making synthesisers in his bedroom, to Grammy nominations, writing the world’s longest lullaby and tackling some of society’s biggest questions through the medium of music. Across the week, we dig into Max’s eclectic back catalogue, and journey through one of his most popular works, his reinterpretation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

Today, we rewind back to Max’s musical beginnings. His parents’ classical records opened his eyes to the power of music, before a youth spent at punk gigs and obsessing with analogue synthesisers. Donald and Max discuss the liberating “failure” of his first record, and we hear about an unlikely influence on his creative destiny – the local milkman.

Spring 1 (Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons)
Daniel Hope, violin
Konzerthaus Kammerhaus Berlin
Andre de Ridder, conductor

Last Days
BBC Philharmonic
Rumon Gamba, conductor

Sketchbook
BBC Philharmonic
Rumon Gamba

November
Mari Samuelsen
Konzerthausorchester Berlin
Jonathan Stockhammer, conductor

Andras
Max Richter, piano

Arbenita (11 Years)
Sarah Leonard, soprano
BBC Philharmonic
Rumon Gamba

Gongstream (excerpt)
Piano Circus

Max
Future Sound of London

Spring (Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons)
Elena Urioste, violin
Chineke! Orchestra
Max Richter, synthesisers

Organum
Max Richter, piano

Produced by Amelia Parker for BBC Audio Cardiff

(Photo credit: Mike Terry)