Study Music

A recording of J.S. Bach's 'Preludie in C' played by Neil Balfour.

When J.S. Bach began working on his epic Well-Tempered Clavier in 1722, chances are he wasn't thinking that it would become one of the defining musical texts in keyboard history. But, somehow, it has - and the Prelude No. 1 in C Major is where it all starts.

The Well-Tempered Clavier (there are two volumes of it, each containing a prelude and a fugue in each musical key) kicks off in C Major, the most 'natural' musical key, so he obviously made sure that the first entry is a good one. Few pieces of keyboard music sound so delicate and fragile, but there's a very Bach-ian stability to it as well. 

It's a strikingly simple piece to begin with, gently phasing through different chords and registers, but it's one of those pieces that demands to be tinkered with. Consequently, you'll hear plenty of different interpretations of this much-loved work.

Prelude No. 1 In C Major | Bach

Colours Of Piano

Richter: Vladimir's Blues

A collection of Max's recent filmscore work, together with some tracks from the albums which have recently been featured in various feature films.

STRANGER THAN FICTION / Marc Forster - On the nature of daylight

DIE FREMDE / Feo Aladag - Umay travelling

Richter: Horizon Variations

WALTZ WITH BASHIR / Ari Folman - The Haunted Ocean 1

IMPARDONNABLES / Andre Techine - End Title

HOW TO DIE IN OREGON / Peter Richardson - Endings

TEASER track. 

More to come if we see some love. 

Ray Chen & Luca D'Alberto "Bach-Teaser"

Originally conceived as a Royal Ballet-commissioned collaboration between composer Max Richter, choreographer Wayne McGregor and artist Julian Opie, Max Richter’s gorgeous score to ‘infra’ is deservedly given life of its own in this album-length release from FatCat’s instrumental/orchestral imprint 130701 Records.

The initial setting for ‘infra’ was as a ballet - written in autumn 2008 and premiered in November of the same year at The Royal Opera House in London – although here Richter’s score is given the full scope of a standalone new album. Expanded and extended from the original piece, ‘infra’ comprises music written for piano, electronics and string quintet, including the full performance score as well as material that has subsequently developed from the construction of the album – more a continued reference to the ballet than as a “studio album” in the strictest sense. The composition resonates with Max’s characteristic musical voice – majestic, involved textures; fluent and sweeping melodies; an enigmatic and inherently intellectual understanding of harmonic complexities that compels and mesmerizes.

Richter’s work on the ballet came initially from McGregor’s invitiation, a request for 25 minutes of music for his piece, inspired by T.S. Elliot’s ‘The Wasteland’ and named after the Latin term for ‘below’. This eventually became more collaborative as the project developed – Wayne would ask for Max to extend or alter certain passages of music in accordance with his own amendments to his choreography and concept, whilst logging the whole process for a BBC documentary (broadcast, along with the ballet in full, on BBC2 in November 2008). The dance performance was backed with digital images created by Julian Opie – observational scenes of street life, haunting and curiously balletic despite being of the everyday – and Max’s score is an appropriately close reference to the traveling theme:

“I started thinking about making a piece on the theme of journeys. Like a road movie. Or a traveler’s notebook. Or like the second unit in a film - when the scene has been played, and the image cuts away to the landscape going by. This started me thinking about Schubert's devastating and haunting "Winterreise" (Winter Journey), so I used some melodic material from Schubert as a found object in parts of my new piece.“

The recording of ‘infra’ took place in one day at London’s AIR Studios – recorded onto 2” tape, engineered by Nick Wollage and overseen by Max - before a return to the mixing studio (Max’s StudioKino and Trixx in Berlin) for Max’s typically intricate and lengthy process of crafting completed pieces from the recordings.

Infra

Infra 5

Mass Effect 3 Soundtrack by Clint Mansell. 

Clint Mansell - Leaving Earth

Another soothing, cinematic background music instrumental by relaxdaily for you to enjoy. This relaxing piano music can be your perfect soundtrack when you like calm and peaceful music while you work, study, do yoga, or meditate. It can also serve you in different applications, like spa music, massage music, inspirational music, etc. Tell me what you feel about this tune and how you use it.

>>Watch also my nature video Forest featuring this track: https://relaxdaily.net/video-forest-best-of/

Have a great week, 
Michael (relaxdaily)

...Slow down, use this relaxing background music to improve your mood, enhance your calm, or bring peace to your everyday life. Or maybe you're one of the many people who find relaxing instrumentals of benefit during your workout (yoga, etc.) or playing in the background at work or while your complete household chores. 

... forget about stress and de-stress to this music. Keep balance between work and relaxation. Live your life. Be yourself.

© 2012 relaxdaily.  All rights reserved.

Season 2

N°045

Relaxing Piano Music – work, study, meditation – relaxdaily N°045

Clint Mansell -Still Fine

For more information visit: http://www.klassikakzente.de/recomposed/home 

Some works are so familiar that it is almost impossible to hear them afresh, but that is what Max Richter has achieved with Vivaldi “Recomposed”. This is no mere arrangement; instead Richter has absorbed Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons into his own musical bloodstream. At first Richter followed the example of other works in the “Recomposed” series, which re-mix existing recordings, but, he says, “I wanted to open up the score on a note-by-note level, and working with an existing recording was like digging a mineshaft through an incredibly rich seam, discovering diamonds and not being able to pull them out. That became frustrating. I wanted to get inside the score at the level of the notes and in essence re-write it, re-composing it in a literal way.”Richter calculates that, in the process, he has discarded around three-quarters of Vivaldi’s original. He opens with what he describes as “a dubby cloud which I’ve called Spring 0. It functions as a sort of prelude, setting up an electronic, ambient space for the first Spring movement to step into. I’ve used electronics in several movements, subtle, almost inaudible things to do withthe bass, but I wanted certain moments to connect to the whole electronic universe that is so much part of our musical language today.” Other resonances are no less unexpected: Richter describes part of the first movement of his Summer as “heavy music for the orchestra. It’s relentless pulsed music, which is a quality that contemporary dance music has; and perhaps I was also thinking about John Bonham’s drumming. Then, in the second movement of Autumn I asked the harpsichordist Raphael Alpermann to play in what is a rather old-fashioned way, very regularly, rather like a ticking clock. That was partly because I didn’t want the harpsichord part to be attention-seeking, but also because that style connects to various pop records from the 1970s where the harpsichord or Clavinet was featured, including various Beach Boys albums and the Beatles’ Abbey Road.” Clearly, Richter has brought his own frame of reference to the project. As he says, “Vivaldi’s music is made of regular patterns, and that connects with post-minimalism, which is one strand in the music that I write. That felt like a natural link, but even so it was surprisingly difficult to navigate my way through it. At every point I had to work out how much is Vivaldi and how much is me. It was difficult but also rewarding because the raw material is so fascinating.”Just as Richter’s Seasons plays tricks with the way we hear Vivaldi’s original, so it also asks questions of the soloist, Daniel Hope. “Violinists have Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons hardwired in their brain. Daniel is likely to play the original I don’t know how many times in a year, and for him to have my parallel text going on in another part of his brain is a challenge. I think he did a wonderful job. He brought to it a deep engagement with the original, but he was fully prepared to cut this new swathe through the text.”


Eine Klassik für Sich 2012

Richter: Recomposed By Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons: Summer 3 (2012)

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Welcome to Lunar Industries

Another calm, slow and soothing relaxdaily background music instrumental. This smooth and peaceful music arrangement with piano and electric guitar has the power to help you get into a relaxed mood, but also to activate the creative part of your brain. Simply close your eyes and start daydreaming, thinking, reflecting, or even creating. Or, watch the beautiful scenery of California's coastline in the Big Sur area during a November day: https://relaxdaily.net/video-n060/

...Relaxdaily's background music instrumentals; slow, peaceful, atmospheric music that can be used as a soundtrack for multiple activities. Depending on your interest you might use my music in your relaxation music playlist, as yoga music or as meditation music (I know, this is not the ordinary music for meditation, but it works for many people). You might also use it as music while you're studying, doing homework, working (mentally, creatively), reading, writing, while thinking or reflecting, dreaming, reviewing, making future plans. Some use it as „sleep music" (though there might be better sleep music out there...). Call it chillout, ambient, New Age, instrumental, or background music -- this is not as much about a genre as it is about a feeling. A way of life. With the relaxdaily project, I try to take a little heat from our (generally) too busy lives. I try to deliver a soundtrack for you, when you feel the need for some positive, calming, liberating tunes.

Hope you enjoy my music, 
Michael (relaxdaily)

© 2012 relaxdaily.  All rights reserved.

N°060

Slow, Calm, Soothing Instrumental - Easy Listening, Study, Relax Music - relaxdaily N°060

Jeremy Schmidt - Beyond the black rainbow

Instrumental Music to Relax, Study and Work - Snowy Woods -  relaxdaily N°064

Listen to another piece of relaxdaily music with lots of piano and a soundtrack-like arrangement. Last week I ordered a new piano-like master keyboard and some new piano sounds, to get closer to my vision how a soothing piano should sound like. I made use of both with creating this one. 
Hope you like the music,
Michael (relaxdaily)

This track (N°064) became part of my album Season 2: https://itunes.apple.com/album/season-2/id952813936

watch the beautiful snowy woods video that I shot only half an hour drive from where I live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwQFYrE21fE

© 2013, relaxdaily

visit my website: https://relaxdaily.net
visit my YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/relaxdaily
join me on Facebook: https://facebook.com/relaxdaily

Study Music

Paul Tyrrell 3