Max Richter
live at Cercle Odyssey, Paris, France
Enter the neoclassical snobs who think standard 4/4 beats are beneath them, yet still managed to drop a pinger in the queue. They're stood around with their eyes closed, aggressively feeling the violins, ready to shush anyone who dares to cough during a cello solo. Absolute scenes of high-brow pretension meeting rave culture. The breathtaking, immersive visual projections of the Cercle Odyssey in Paris, France wrap around a completely spellbound, silent audience. Blurring the line between modern classical and electronica, this Max Richter live set is labeled Techno but is truly an avant-garde expedition.
The tempo drifts wildly from 94 to 161 BPM, averaging 130.7 BPM, while heavily leaning on 5A and 8B keys to evoke profound melancholy. The energy is firmly planted in the low-mids, allowing strings and piano transients to soar. The mixing is less about beatmatching and more about cinematic, sweeping transitions between live instrumentation. The Max Richter Cercle Odyssey, Paris tracklist is a mind-bending collision of genres. He boldly weaves Ludovico Einaudi's "Primavera" into the haunting textures of Obscurus Regis's "Eclipse".
Throwing in Matt Lange's "Count It" alongside Aly & Fila's "Altitude Compensation" creates a completely unpredictable, beautiful sonic landscape. This performance is a pure emotional rollercoaster. After a stirring unknown opening track, Richter steadily builds a wall of orchestral power. The absolute centerpiece is a massive 16-minute excursion into "Vibrazioni armoniche", before returning to earth with the beautiful closing track, "Bizim Eve Bahar Geldi" by Aysun Karasaçlı.