Memoryhouse (album)

Memoryhouse
Studio album by Max Richter
Released	May 27, 2002 (2002-05-27)
Recorded	1999-2001
Genre	Contemporary classical ambient minimalist post-minimalist
Length	55:34
Label	Late Junction
Producer	Max Richter Jane Carter (exec. producer)
Max Richter chronology
Memoryhouse (2002) The Blue Notebooks (2004)
Alternative cover
2009 reissue cover

Memoryhouse is the 2002 debut album by neo-classical composer Max Richter. Originally released in 2002 under the Late Junction label, the album was reissued by FatCat Records in 2009 and 2014 with alternative album artwork.^[1][2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Pitchfork	8.7/10[4]

Memoryhouse received largely positive reviews from contemporary music critics.

Pitchfork Media gave the album a very positive review in a retrospective review for the 2014 reissue on FatCat, stating, "Memoryhouse has become a landmark of the amorphous scene that would eventually earn the tags “post-classical” or “indie classical.” Memoryhouse remains audacious but careful, intimate but vivid, innovative but reverent. In 2002, Richter’s ability to weave subtle electronics against the grand BBC Philharmonic Orchestra helped suggest new possibilities and locate fresh audiences that composers such as Nico Muhly and Michał Jacaszek have since pursued. As you listen to new work by Julianna Barwick or Jóhann Jóhannsson, thank Richter; just as Sigur Rós did with its widescreen rock, Richter showed that crossover wasn’t necessarily an artistic curse. Nearly a dozen years later, the material finally got its due."^[4]

Track listing

All tracks written by Max Richter. 

Personnel

Main personnel

• Max Richter – composer, mixing, primary artist, producer
• BBC Philharmonic Orchestra – orchestra
• Levine Andrade – viola
• Alexander Bălănescu – soloist, violin
• Kirsteen Davidson Kelly – piano
• Judith Herbert – cello, soloist
• Sarah Leonard – soloist, soprano
• Rumon Gamba – conductor

Additional personnel

• John Cage – readings, text
• Jane Carter – executive producer
• Neil Hutchinson – engineer, mixing
• Mandy Parnell – remastering
• Ania Piesiewicz – photography
• Sarah Sutcliffe – readings
• Marina Tsvetaeva – text

References