Max Richter signs new global deal with Universal Music Group

09 December 2019 - Press release

PLUS LANDMARK MOMENT OF HITTING 1 BILLION STREAMS AND OVER 1 MILLION ALBUM SALES
 
New partnership across Decca Records, Decca Publishing and Deutsche Grammophon
 
Recordings of new works will be released through London-based Decca Records under the ‘Studio Richter’ imprint
 
Deutsche Grammophon will continue to create albums with Richter featuring newly recorded versions of his masterworks and reimaginations of classical pieces
 

 

World-renowned composer Max Richter is expanding his relationship with Universal Music Group via a unique new agreement with two of its historic record labels. It will see future albums released through the London-based Decca Records Group (where he is already signed to Decca Publishing) under the imprint ‘Studio Richter’ and provides for a continuation of his seven-year partnership with Deutsche Grammophon. Through such pioneering DG albums as SLEEP, The Blue Notebooks, Vivaldi Recomposed, Infra and Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works, Max Richter has also surpassed a major milestone: 1 billion streams and 1 million album sales. This highlights his enduring appeal as one of today’s most in-demand and most-streamed artists, as both performer and composer.
 
Rebecca Allen, President of Decca Records Group, says: “The Decca Label Group are incredibly excited and proud to be partnering up with Max and his Studio Richter team, helping to strategise, amplify and visualise his future music projects globally. Like Max, we have always strived to break down genre boundaries, and with this exciting new partnership, we feel empowered and ambitious to bring new audiences into the ongoing Richter journey.”
 
Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon, comments: “Max Richter remains the pioneer of new, artistically credible repertoire at Deutsche Grammophon that draws inspiration from the classical and avant-garde music tradition as well as from electronica, minimal and ambient music. We are privileged to continue our successful partnership well into the future with a series of recordings, audiovisual projects and catalogue curation, building on more than one million albums sold. As a collaborative effort within Universal Music Group on both Max’s recording and publishing activities, DG will ensure his work continues to excite and move an increasing global audience.”
 
Richter’s most recent release is the soundtrack album for sci‑fi blockbuster Ad Astra, directed by James Gray and starring Brad Pitt. As well as strings, electronics and vocals, Richter’s score incorporates material derived from data sent back by the NASA Voyager probes. And, released two weeks earlier, the 33-track edition Voyager: Essential Max Richter juxtaposes music from his iconic solo projects with his favorite film scores and includes two previously unheard SLEEP tracks.
 
SLEEP has also inspired the making of a fascinating and immersive 90-minute documentary. The world premiere of Max Richter’s Sleep, which tells the story of this landmark work by focusing on an epic eight-hour performance given in central Los Angeles, took place on 21 November at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Directed by Natalie Johns, the film explores Richter’s work and artistic process, following him in the lead-up to the LA event. Further festival invitations and screenings as well as the worldwide video distribution through Eagle Rock will convey the fascinating story of SLEEP to an ever-growing audience.
 
Max Richter’s live performances next year include major concerts at the Barbican in London (17/18 February) and Paris Philharmonie (8 May).
 

ABOUT MAX RICHTER
Max Richter is as one of the most influential figures on the contemporary music scene, producing ground-breaking work as a composer, pianist, recording artist and collaborator. He is best known for his genre-defining solo albums including The Blue Notebooks (named by the Guardian as one of the best classical music works of the 21st Century), Memoryhouse, Songs From Before, Infra, Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works and the eight-hour epic SLEEP (chosen by BBC 6 Music as its Album of the year for 2015, and by Pitchfork magazine as one of the 50 best ambient albums of all time). His 2012 record Recomposed By Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons topped the classical charts in 22 countries.
 
Richter has written widely for ballet, opera, and film. His most recent projects include scoring Hollywood film soundtracks for Ad Astra, starring Brad Pitt, and director Josie Rourke’s historical drama Mary Queen of Scots. Other works include Three Worlds: Music from Woolf Works for The Royal Ballet, Hostiles directed by Scott Cooper, Miss Sloane directed by John Madden, Black Mirror’s ‘Nosedive’ directed by Joe Wright and Taboo for Tom Hardy, which earned him an Emmy nomination. He wrote the opening and end themes for Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-winning film Arrival and his music also appears in Damon Lindelof’s HBO series The Leftovers, as well as featuring prominently in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir.