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Max Richter - Voices 2

The intention of Max Richter’s music is activism, but without pressure. He called Voices “a place to think” and “quiet protest”. Minus the spoken elements, Voices 2 is even more gently contemplative, offering a calm environment to ponder the ideas presented by the first work. This latest release is about hope for the future.

Much of the album is based on the original compositions in Voices, with the same musicians producing additional pieces and interpretations in lockdown, including Richter’s piano solos, recorded at Abbey Road. Purely instrumental this time, Voices 2 unearths variations on the tracks in the first record.

Introductory piece Psychogeography’s soft violins hum, as an angelic chorus emerges along with low-pitched strings, slowly becoming louder and more complex, undulating, then followed by a strong cello solo. The effect is of ecstatic ascent, like a magnificent sunrise, after which it grows softer, gradually fading.

With melancholy piano, Mirrors (also a lead single) gently, wistfully rises, conjuring images of sweeping vistas, a walk through a meadow, or a blossoming flower (as in the music video by Yulia Mahr), expressing the reawakening and renewal of spring. Again a seraphic chorus rises in Follower, as subsequent deep strings add gravity, descending into the abyss as the vocals rise and become louder. It could be interpreted as the co-existence of heaven and hell, or dark clouds engulfing a sunny landscape, then receding as the sun returns.

Solemn church-like organs in Solitaries strongly echo the original album’s sound, and blur the line between vocals and instruments. A heavy string section then rising chorals begin Monument Study, a weighty piece that evokes oppression and hardship – perhaps the gruelling voyages of migrants as they seek to escape torment and the ravages of war.  

Low keyboard descends in Prelude 2, as a reflective, haunting, weeping viola expresses heartache and suffering, a gravity reminiscent of Bach’s most solemn concertos. As relief from the desolation, Colour Wheel is euphoric as chorus and strings, incorporating electronic sound, rise like a spaceship taking off.

dank aan originele poster