On the Nature of Daylight

Post-minimalism — or neo-classical, depending on who you ask — is a genre of contemporary music that sits somewhere between classical and electronic. It’s slower, more emotive, and deliberately cinematic. The composers who’ve mastered it have found a natural home in modern film: Max Richter, the late Johann Johannsson, and Dustin O’Halloran.

But within this genre, one piece quietly set the tone for the whole movement. Released in 2004 on Richter’s second album The Blue Notebooks, “On the Nature of Daylight” is — and I don’t use this lightly…