STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
This next story begins with an apology. Sorry if you're trying to wake up because the music we're about to play might put you back to sleep.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAX RICHTER COMPOSITION, "SLEEP")
INSKEEP: It's a composition called "Sleep." It's eight hours long, the perfect length to get a good night's rest.
MAX RICHTER: Sleeping and being asleep is one of my favorite activities.
INSKEEP: Composer Max Richter.
RICHTER: And I'm also keenly aware that I'm very fortunate in being able to get a good night's sleep. You know, many people are not. And really I - what I wanted to do is to sort of provide a landscape or a place - a musical place - where people could actually fall asleep.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAX RICHTER COMPOSITION, "SLEEP")
INSKEEP: Mr. Richter is a well-known composer from Britain. He spent about two years writing and recording an album that few people will hear in full, especially if they fall asleep, which does raise a question. Why?
RICHTER: Our experience of being asleep is one of the most interesting things we ever do. I mean, this is just personal, and maybe I'm cranky and eccentric in that way, but, you know, it's just a fascination for me. And it's also a really big part of our lives. I mean, we spend decades in this state.
INSKEEP: Richter says he wants to engage with the unconscious mind. There is a problem, though. This composition is not easy to play.
RICHTER: Especially for string players, you know, long, quiet, you know, notes is their kind of - you know, that's the horror. You know, because it's - you need a lot of concentration to play like that.
(SOUNDBITE OF MAX RICHTER COMPOSITION, "SLEEP")
RICHTER: It's physically really tough because, you know, people get really stiff and tense, you know. And they see a page of, or in this, you know, 25 pages of, like, you know, whole notes. (Laughter) They just - you know, they get the fear. It's very difficult.
INSKEEP: Richter and his small ensemble will face that challenge when they premier the piece in Berlin this fall. They plan to play from midnight to 8 o'clock in the morning in a venue customized for the occasion.
RICHTER: We basically will play in the round. So, you know, the band is in the middle and ringed around it are, you know, 400 or 500 beds (laughter) like a gigantic, you might say like a hospital ward or something. And everyone goes to bed and we start playing.
INSKEEP: If all goes well, they won't hear much applause at the end because the audience will be asleep.
RICHTER: That's success, yeah (laughter).
INSKEEP: Max Richter's new album is called "Sleep."
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