Max Richter – Beethoven – Opus 2020 - EP

Released at the end of 2020—a time when our lives were fractured, separated and utterly transformed—Max Richter’s orchestral collage of fragments of Beethoven’s music chimes deeply. The EP arrives, too, at the end of a year of celebrations for the composer’s 250th anniversary, which, for many classical fans, were something of a glue holding several challenging months together. Here, inspired by Stockhausen’s mesmerising, experimental Opus 1970, Richter places Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30, Op. 109 at the heart of Opus 2020, an 18-minute orchestral work. And he builds layer upon layer of lush sound to create an organic sonic wall that rises and falls, before dissolving into an extract from the sonata in the final minutes. The opening of the EP, “Andante Loops”, meanwhile, is an ambient piano piece based on music from Opus 2020.