On the Nature of Daylight

September 20, 2018 4:53 PM

Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight" has now been turned into a short film. Originally released on the 2004 album The Blue Notebooks, contemporary composer Max Richter's stirring "On the Nature of Daylight" has been featured in a number of films and television shows, including Arrival (spoilers!) and Castle Rock. This summer, on the eve of its fifteenth anniversary, the piece was made into a short video starring Elisabeth Moss.
posted by Synesthesia (13 comments total)

Those comments make me glad I'm not the only one who sees it as a possible final scene for "The Handmaid's Tale." June makes it to Canada and waits for news on Nick and her daughter.

Then she gets a call.
posted by asteria at 5:45 PM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

Cool. I quite like Max Richter's Sleep series, especially Dream 3.
posted by JamesBay at 6:06 PM on September 20, 2018

I think the first comment is in the wrong thread?
posted by JamesBay at 6:42 PM on September 20, 2018

I think the first comment is in the wrong thread?

Nope! Read it again, and check the YouTube comments, which mention The Handmaid's Tale.
posted by nnethercote at 9:49 PM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

Thanks, although this is the first time anyone has ever recommended reading YT comments, lol!
posted by JamesBay at 10:16 PM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

I have adored Max Richter's music for a long time. My ring tone (through 4 different cell phones!) is his "Berlin By Overnight," and I can't imagine "The Leftovers" would have been nearly as haunting and moving a series were it not for his soundtrack...
posted by PhineasGage at 10:33 PM on September 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

I have a Max Richter channel queued up on my Pandora and there are times when I’m listening at work that I want to get up from my desk and just start running until I reach the ocean.
posted by Atom Eyes at 11:35 PM on September 20, 2018 [7 favorites]

Been a fan of Richter since I got home from Shutter Island saying "well, that was better than I expected, but who the heck did that music?" I was just listening to his wonderful Vivaldi remix, which is both lovely and seems to give me a headache in about 10 minutes, but is worth it. Since those early days though his work has almost become the Hallelujah of high end film mood music, alas.
posted by chortly at 11:38 PM on September 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've been a big fan of this song since seeing Arrival back when it came out. I started exploring Max Richter's other music, and it's all pretty good. I got The Blue Notebooks and mostly enjoyed although the spoken interludes I wasn't a big fan of.
posted by A Bad Catholic at 12:18 AM on September 21, 2018

Most people focus on Blue Notebooks but I think I prefer Memoryhouse. Infra isn't a super easy listen but Infra 5 is one of my favorite tracks ever, full stop.

I've been Max Richter obsessed since I first heard his haunting score for the film Waltz with Bashir.
posted by the_querulous_night at 1:32 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

I mean, can we talk about how many stories Elisabeth Moss can tell with nothing but her face, her posture, and her stride?
posted by dnash at 5:04 PM on September 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm pretty sure I was first introduced to Max Richter and On the Nature of Daylight via this stunning dance on So You Think You Can Dance. After which I immediately went and bought a couple of Max Richter's albums, which did not disappoint me.
posted by yasaman at 7:19 PM on September 21, 2018

As good as this video is, it kind of ruins my head cannon for the piece. This is not at all what I imagined a video for it would be. It's both an extremely abstract and evocative work.

It's not bad though, and Moss is a treasure.

It took me so long to actually go and buy Memoryhouse. As a poor college student, paying import prices for a cd was really hard to justify when it came out. It and Blue Notebooks are still regular plays for me.
posted by lownote at 12:37 PM on September 23, 2018