The Blue Notebooks

Untitled

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Pitchfork Media	(8.7/10)
PopMatters	(Favorable)
Stylus	B−

The Blue Notebooks is the second album by British producer/composer Max Richter.

The album features readings from Franz Kafka's The Blue Octavo Notebooks and Czesław Miłosz's Hymn of the Pearl and Unattainable Earth. Both readings are by the British actress Tilda Swinton. The track "On the Nature of Daylight" was used in the 2006 Will Ferrell film Stranger than Fiction as well as the 2012 film ''Disconnect'', directed by Henry Alex Rubin and starring Jason Bateman and Hope Davis. It also appears on the soundtrack of Martin Scorsese's 2010 film, Shutter Island. It was also mixed with Dinah Washington's vocal from her 1960 hit "This Bitter Earth" for the same movie and soundtrack. In addition, "Shadow Journal" and "Organum" were both included in the soundtrack of the Ari Folman film "Waltz With Bashir." The film's original score was composed by Richter.

Track listing

1. "The Blue Notebooks"
2. "On the Nature of Daylight"
3. "Horizon Variations"
4. "Shadow Journal"
5. "Iconography"
6. "Vladimir's Blues"
7. "Arboretum"
8. "Old Song"
9. "Organum"
10. "The Trees"
11. "Written on the Sky"

• All songs composed by Max Richter
• Track 1 reading from "The First Notebook" in Franz Kafka's The Blue Octavo Notebooks
• Track 4 reading from "At Dawn" in Czesław Miłosz's Hymn Of The Pearl
• Track 7 reading from "The Third Notebook" in Franz Kafka's The Blue Octavo Notebooks
• Track 8 reading from "The Fourth Notebook" in Franz Kafka's The Blue Octavo Notebooks
• Track 10 reading from "The Wormwood Star" movement of "The Separate Notebooks" in Czesław Miłosz's Unattainable Earth

Release history

Country	Date
United Kingdom	26 February 2004
United States	18 May 2004

External links

• The Blue Notebooks at Fat Cat
• "Essential Listening: The Blue Notebooks“ at artistxite
• Track by track guide to The Blue Notebooks at Drowned In Sound