Max Richter and the Wordless Orchestra

Overview

Following the announcement of Nils Frahm's return to Australia, electronic classical music fans have plenty to salivate over this week. Minimalist, ambient electro-acoustics will bring in 'The Four Seasons' this Spring, the legendary Max Richter is set to make play his first ever Australian show. One of the most influential composers in recent times, the German born, British neoclassical mastermind is set to present the Australian premiere of his celebrated reworking of Vivaldi's masterpiece, 'The Four Seasons', with New York City's 22-piece Wordless Music Orchestra.

Following a sold-out Royal Albert Hall show showcasing his seminal 2002 album Memoryhouse, the 48-year-old composer is heading to Melbourne on Monday, November 24 to present both his recomposition of Vivaldi's masterwork and his own sparse 2010 album, Infra — an expansion of his poignant, ambient score composed for a Wayne McGregor ballet once staged at the Royal Opera House.

Following piano and synthesiser studies under the great Luciano Berio and ten years with the neo-classical quintet the Piano Circus, Richter has been long-celebrated for countless projects including 2004's Tilda Swinton collaboration, the spoken word full-length album The Blue Notebooks, alongside reams of cinematic scoring to films like Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, Ridley Scott's Prometheus and Clint Eastwood's I. Edgar.

"Max is someone we've wanted to have perform here for a very long time and to be able to present this vivid, fresh, mesmerising and precise composer performing his Vivaldi The Four Seasons Recomposed with the vibrant restlessness of the Wordless Orchestra from NYC is something of a dream come true for us," said Ben Marshall, Head of Contemporary Music at Sydney Opera House. The pairing is a solid catch for the Opera House (presented as part of Music at the House), with the Wordless Music Orchestra set to perform Jonny Greenwood's world premiere performance of his There Will Be Blood score in New York City in September.

Originally premiered at London's Barbican Centre in 2012, Richter's Vivaldi, The Four Seasons Recomposed apparently discarded 75% of Vivaldi's original material, with Richter using the remainder to loop, phase and rework into a postmodern, minimalist triumph — one that topped the iTunes classic chart in the UK, US and Germany.

It's an exciting time for local, contemporary classical fans with a love for electronic innovation. "Every now and then when programming music it becomes clear that something new and significant is emerging. There is currently a strand of rigorous, talented and acclaimed contemporary classical composers who are as comfortable with electronics as they are with formal composition," said Ben Marshall, Head of Contemporary Music at Sydney Opera House.

Image credit: Yulia Mahr.