Max Richter’s ‘SLEEP’ reinvented as new iOS and android mobile app
Following on from such trailblazing recordings as Memoryhouse (2002), The Blue Notebooks (2004), Infra (2010) and Recomposed: Vivaldi – The Four Seasons (2012), SLEEP, released in 2015, continues to be an international phenomenon thanks to Richter’s astonishing ability to connect with music-lovers around the world in new and innovative ways. Last year saw the release of a documentary, Max Richter’s Sleep, premiered at Sundance Film Festival, exploring his remarkable artistic process and the unique challenges of putting on overnight performances – with audiences in beds, not seats. Now SLEEP’s latest incarnation sees the 8-hour work transformed into a new app of the same name.
Available as iOS and Android versions in both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store, users can create personalised musical sessions for a chosen time period, with planetary animations programmed according to SLEEP’s musical themes. Each of the sessions – Sleep, Meditate and Focus – has its own musical sequence, developed in collaboration with Max Richter. And he has even composed a new wake-up alarm sound especially for the app!
Max Richter says of the app: “I’m happy that the SLEEP app is finally with us; it has been a labour of love for all involved and it has turned out beautifully. The way that the app allows listeners to make a unique and personal journey through the landscape of SLEEP is remarkable and conveys the spirit of the music in a completely new way.”
