“I like the idea that music can propose a better world, even temporarily,” composer Max Richter tells Apple Music Classical. “It speaks to music’s ability to connect people and create community.” In that respect, While The Flood Rages is perhaps Richter’s most powerful work to date, spanning the emotional gamut from despair to bittersweet hope. Scored for orchestra, choir, electronics and field recordings, the three-act album draws largely from music originally composed for choreographer Wayne McGregor’s 2024 ballet MADDADDAM, based on Margaret Atwood’s trilogy of dystopian novels on the theme of a bioengineered apocalypse. “While The Flood Rages is not a literal retelling, but it evokes material from the books,” says Richter. “What’s amazing about the novels is how multidimensional they are. There’s sci-fi, thriller, comedy, drama and deeply emotional storytelling all woven together. I wanted the music to embrace that same richness.” True to form, Richter’s soundworld embraces a panoply of musical and digital effects, veering from the industrial thrum of “The City Was a Chaos” to the singular, almost minimalist beauty of “Quiet”. And listen to how the unsettling, folk-like “Tell The Bees” bleeds into the menacing and disturbing “Data Ballistics” whose sounds are drawn directly from recorded gunfire. Introduced by slow-rising piano arpeggios, with cello and sighing violin, the title track “While The Flood Rages” forms the heart of the album, says Richter. “It’s like the eye of the storm,” he says. “There’s all this societal chaos and history unfolding around it, but at the centre is something quiet, intimate and deeply human. “We’ve all lived through things like COVID or 9/11, events that will be written about in hundreds of years,” he continues. “But even during those moments, people are still making tea for each other, still being decent to one another. Those small acts of tenderness matter. So while the flood rages, there’s also this other quiet, beautiful thing happening at the same time. I think it’s an appeal to pay attention to that.” The final track “Now We Can Sing” brings us home, soaring strings underpinned by richly orchestrated falling motifs—a cinematic ending that seems to provide some comfort amongst the desolation. Our Favourite Track: Perhaps the most typically Richter-esque track, “While The Flood Rages” provides five minutes of reflective beauty with its simple, hypnotic piano-and-strings formula.