Sleep (album)

Sleep was conceived by Richter and his partner, the visual artist Yulia Mahr.{{cite web |title=Sleep {{ndash}} a restorative lullaby of our times... |url=https://www.holeandcorner.com/long-reads/sleep |website=www.holeandcorner.com |access-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120152156/https://www.holeandcorner.com/long-reads/sleep |archive-date=Jan 20, 2023 |language=en |url-status=live |url-access=registration}} It is targeted to fit a full night's rest. Richter talked with American neuroscientist David Eagleman while working on the album's piece to learn about how the brain functions during sleep. Richter stated, "Sleeping is one of the most important things we all do ... We spend a third of our lives asleep and it's always been one of my favourite things, ever since I was a child. ... For me, Sleep is an attempt to see how that space when your conscious mind is on holiday can be a place for music to live."

In the album's credits, Richter describes Sleep as an eight-hour lullaby that is meant to be listened to at night. It is scored for piano, cello, two violas, two violins, organ, soprano vocals, synthesizers and electronics. The piece comprises 31 sections in slow tempo. These range from less than three minutes to over thirty, with an average duration of just over fifteen minutes. The sections are variations of five themes.

Richter structured Sleep as a large set of variations to echo Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which were supposedly written as a cure for the insomnia of the man who commissioned them. "In composing Sleep I have tried to make the experience of the listener, whether sleeping or awake, the centre of the piece."{{Cite book |last=Richter |first=Max |title=Sleep album credits booklet |publisher=Deutsche Grammophon GmbH |year=2015 |location=Berlin}}

The release of Sleep was accompanied by a one-hour album, From Sleep, with seven additional tracks, not present on the eight-hour release, recorded during the same sessions.

From Sleep was promoted by music videos for three tracks: "Dream 13 (Minus Even)," {{Citation |last=MaxRichterVEVO |title=Max Richter –Dream 13 (minus even) |date=2015-08-10 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dvpT0hA0Lk |accessdate=2017-02-21}} "Path 5 (Delta)" {{Citation |last=MaxRichterVEVO |title=Max Richter – Path 5 (delta) |date=2015-09-04 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N84hEgk8b1M |accessdate=2017-02-21}} and "Dream 3 (In the Midst of My Life)."{{Citation |last=MaxRichterVEVO |title=Max Richter – Dream 3 (in the midst of my life) |date=2015-09-17 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwpWZVG5SsQ |accessdate=2017-02-21}} Additionally, remixed versions of the three tracks, by Mogwai, Clark, Digitonal, Jürgen Müller, Kaitlyn Aurelia and Marconi Union, have been featured on a subsequent remix EP Sleep Remixes, released digitally on February 19, 2016.

New sequences and selections from Sleep were part of a free sleep music and meditation timer mobile app for iOS, introduced to help users sleep, meditate, and focus.{{Cite web |title=SLEEP by Max Richter |url=https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sleep-by-max-richter/id1509084936 |access-date=2023-03-10 |website=App Store |language=en-US}}

In April 2020, the documentary Max Richter's Sleep was released. Directed by Natalie Johns, the film follows Richter and Mahr performances during the album's tour including an open-air concert in Los Angeles, and includes performance footage from Berlin, Sydney, and Paris, as well as behind-the-scenes footage.

In March 2023, Sleep: Tranquility Base EP was released, with new versions of themes from Sleep. It was titled after the Tranquility Base on the Moon. Further remixes by Kelly Lee Owens and Alva Noto followed.

In January 2024, a "faded" edition of Sleep was released on streaming platforms. In March 2024, Sleep: Piano Edition digital EP is set to be released, with three extended reimagined tracks for solo piano, performed by Richter himself.

For the 10th anniversary of Sleep, on 5 September 2025, Richter is releasing a hypnagogia-themed sequel entitled Sleep Circle. The double-album's release is accompanied by two London shows.{{Cite web |title=Max Richter SLEEP - 10 Year Anniversary < Alexandra Palace |url=https://www.alexandrapalace.com/whats-on/max-richter-sleep/ |access-date=2025-06-25 |website=Alexandra Palace |language=en-GB}}

Sleep was performed in its entirety from midnight to 8:00 AM at the Wellcome Collection in 2015 as the climax of the BBC Radio 3 "Science and Music" weekend.[http://www.sinfinimusic.com/uk/features/news/bbc-radio-3-wellcome-trust-why-music-weekend-max-richter-sleep-september-2015 Sinfini Music – Latest: Music and the brain] Audience members watched from beds instead of chairs. The performance set records for the longest broadcast and longest live broadcast of a single piece of music.[http://pitchfork.com/news/61389-max-richter-performs-sleep-live-for-eight-hours-sets-guinness-world-record-on-bbc-radio-3/ Max Richter Performs Sleep Live for Eight Hours, Sets Guinness World Record on BBC Radio 3] The album was also performed at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2017,[https://philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/activite/concert-performance/18044-max-richter-sleep Max Richter - Sleep] and outdoors in Grand Park, Los Angeles in 2018. The Los Angeles performances had 560 beds and were timed so the final movement, "Dream 0 (till break of day)" would occur at dawn.[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-max-richter-sleep-grand-park-20180726-story.html Los Angeles Times - Composer Max Richter wants fans to spend the night in Grand Park][https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/max-richter-bringing-overnight-concert-sleep-la-why-sushi-helps-him-stay-awake-1127525 Hollywood Reporter - Max Richter on Bringing Overnight Concert "Sleep" to L.A. and Why Sushi Helps Him Stay Awake][https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/composer-max-richter-to-perform-overnight-l-a-concerts-with-560-beds-629532/ Rolling Stone - Composer Max Richter to Perform Overnight L.A. Concerts With 560 Beds]

{{music ratings

| MC = 79/100{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/max-richter-sleep-8-hour-version/max-richter |title=Reviews for Sleep [8 Hour Version] by Max Richter |website=Metacritic |accessdate=February 19, 2016}}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/max-richter-sleep-8-hour-version-mw0002854609 |title=Sleep – Max Richter |website=AllMusic |accessdate=February 18, 2016}}

| rev2 = Drowned in Sound

| rev2score = 9/10Falcone, Jon. [http://drownedinsound.com/releases/19000/reviews/4149378 Max Richter – Sleep] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203032536/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/19000/reviews/4149378 |date=2016-02-03 }}. Drowned In Sound. 11 September 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2016.

| rev3 = The Line of Best Fit

| rev3Score = 8/10{{cite web|url=http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/max-richter-sleep|title=The Line of Best Fit review}}

| rev4 = Pitchfork

| rev4Score = 7.0/10.0{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20987-sleep/|title=Max Richter: Sleep |first=Grayson Haver|last=Currin|date=September 21, 2015|publisher=Pitchfork Media|accessdate=February 19, 2016}}

| rev5 = Uncut

| rev5Score = {{Rating|4|5}}[http://www.metacritic.com/music/max-richter-sleep-8-hour-version/max-richter Metacritic: Uncut Magazine score]

}}

Sleep received wide acclaim from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 79, based on 7 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

Jon Falcone gave the album a very positive review, stating, "Sleep implores you for companionship and bleeds into itself as it bleeds into the listener. Typing while the fizz of ‘Never Fade Into Nothingness’ plays makes transforms Word documents in an epic dance of black pixels on white light, binary marks scratching into a too-bright glassy reflection. Walking while the echo-drenched monastic vocals of ‘Non-Eternal’ exposes that the world we occupy is haunted is exhilarating and avoiding awkward work colleagues as ‘If You Came This Way’ patters out its motif, that dangles held violin notes over electronic burbles, is to experience the sound of solace itself."

Grayson Haver Currin of Pitchfork Media gave the album a positive review, stating, "At its best, Sleep feels like compositionally rigorous new age music. It’s a place in which you can settle for a while, with or without a pillow, and emerge only when you are ready to rejoin the restive world." Currin was also slightly critical of the release, stating, "Sleep, then, is simply too didactic as a name. It’s a command that tells us how to enjoy something that clearly has other uses. That handle, combined with Richter’s conceit, has turned the record into a kind of clickbait story, too, which seems entirely antithetical to Richter’s point."

As of February 2020, Sleep peaked at position 44 in the UK album charts, with sales of 40,151.{{cite web|url=https://www.musicweek.com/talent/read/max-richter-on-streaming-phenomenon-sleep-and-his-epic-eight-hour-live-show/078916|title=Max Richter on streaming phenomenon Sleep and his epic eight-hour live show|publisher=Music Week|date=17 February 2020|first=Andre|last=Paine|accessdate=26 February 2020}} {{As of|2025|4}}, Sleep had more than 800 million streams.{{cite web|url=https://kworb.net/spotify/artist/2VZNmg4vCnew4Pavo8zDdW_albums.html|title=Max Richter - Spotify Top Albums|publisher=Kworb|accessdate=10 April 2025}}

=== Sleep ===

{{track listing

| all_writing = Max Richter

| total_length = 504:21

| title1 = Dream 1 (before the wind blows it all away)

| length1 = 18:31

| title2 = Cumulonimbus

| length2 = 10:09

| title3 = Dream 2 (entropy)

| length3 = 10:02

| title4 = Path (7676)

| length4 = 11:00

| title5 = whose name is written on water

| length5 = 11:15

| title6 = Patterns (cypher)

| length6 = 2:47

| title7 = Solo

| length7 = 6:53

| title8 = Aria 1

| length8 = 11:06

| title9 = Return 2 (song)

| length9 = 16:46

| title10 = nor earth, nor boundless sea

| length10 = 19:17

| title11 = Dream 11 (whisper music)

| length11 = 18:54

| title12 = moth-like stars

| length12 = 28:53

| title13 = Path 17 (before the ending of daylight)

| length13 = 26:52

| title14 = Space 26 (epicardium)

| length14 = 6:56

| title15 = Patterns (lux)

| length15 = 16:43

| title16 = Constellation 1

| length16 = 6:56

| title17 = Constellation 2

| length17 = 15:20

| title18 = Space 2 (slow waves)

| length18 = 7:42

| title19 = Chorale/glow

| length19 = 25:29

| title20 = Dream 19 (pulse)

| length20 = 18:53

| title21 = Cassiopeia

| length21 = 19:36

| title22 = Non-eternal

| length22 = 23:50

| title23 = Song/echo

| length23 = 4:59

| title24 = Aria 2

| length24 = 11:02

| title25 = never fade into nothingness

| length25 = 9:41

| title26 = Return 16 (time capsule)

| length26 = 24:25

| title27 = if you came this way

| length27 = 14:29

| title28 = Space 17 (chains)

| length28 = 17:59

| title29 = Sublunar

| length29 = 25:22

| title30 = Dream 17 (Alpha)

| length30 = 28:47

| title31 = Dream 0 (till break of day)

| length31 = 33:47

}}

• The digital release treats the above as one single piece, segueing between each track. On CD, the last songs on each disc, "whose name is written on water", "Dream 11 (whisper music)", "Patterns (lux)", "Chorale/glow", "Song/echo" "if you came this way" and "Sublunar", are lightly extended in order to account for the physical limitations of the medium; these pieces are extended by up to 30 seconds to account for the lack of transitions into the next track.

{{track listing

| total_length = 59:59

| title1 = Dream 3 (In The Midst Of My Life)

| length1 = 10:04

| title2 = Path 5 (Delta)

| length2 = 11:14

| title3 = Space 11 (Invisible Pages Over)

| length3 = 5:16

| title4 = Dream 13 (Minus Even)

| length4 = 8:53

| title5 = Space 21 (Petrichor)

| length5 = 4:48

| title6 = Path 19 (Yet Frailest)

| length6 = 7:51

| title7 = Dream 8 (Late And Soon)

| length7 = 11:53

}}

Rough Trade Shops Special Edition CD2

{{Track listing

| all_writing =

| title1 = Selene

| length1 = 11:39

| title2 = Diffraction Sequence

| length2 = 4:21

| title3 = Origins (ursa major)

| Length =

| length3 = 16:02

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| total_length = 32:02

}}

;Main personnel

• Max Richter – composer, electronics, liner notes, mixing, organ, piano, primary artist, producer, quotation author, synthesizer
• American Contemporary Music Ensemble – strings (ensemble)
• Grace Davidson – vocals (soprano)
• Brian Snow – cello
• Clarice Jensen – cello
• Caleb Burhans – viola
• Ben Russell – violin
• Yuki Numata Resnick – violin

;Additional personnel

• Christian Badzura – project manager
• Tom Bailey – assistant engineer
• Tim Cooper – liner notes
• Rupert Coulson – engineer, mixing
• David Eagleman – liner notes
• Merle Kersten – art direction
• Yulia Mahr – executive producer
• Mandy Parnell – mastering
• Anna-Lena Rodewald – project manager
• Mike Terry – photography
• Alejandro Venguer – engineer
• Mareike Walter – design

;Sleep

;From Sleep {{nobold|(one-hour version)}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=Max Richter|title=Sleep|award=Gold|type=album|relyear=2016|certyear=2023|id=17124-5558-2|access-date=February 4, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true|noshipments=true|nosales=true}}

• Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep. (2016) and Long Ambients 2 (2019), ambient albums by Moby
• Somnium (2001), ambient album by Robert Rich
• Music and sleep

{{Reflist}}

{{Max Richter}}

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Category:2015 albums

Category:Deutsche Grammophon albums

Category:Max Richter albums

Category:2010s concept albums

Category:Sleep