The Hypocrisy of War and a Composer’s Lament

The Hypocrisy of War and a Composer’s Lament
I am a latecomer to the music of the German-British composer Max Richter, having only stumbled upon it recently while searching for a different style of music. Somehow, Richter’s music from Sleep popped up while searching for possible selections of yoga music. This is somewhat odd, because I don’t think yoga accompaniment was part of the composer’s intention. Richter is considered a composer working in the minimalist genre, but I feel that his work transcends that label. The music is minimalist, but it includes stunning ethereal vocal melodies along with the standard repetition of simple motifs—slightly varied as the piece progresses—that marks the…