The Blue Notebooks was Max Richter's second solo album, a distinctive and adventurous work that is beautifully recorded and cinematic in scope. Opening with a text from Franz Kafka over a sparse piano melody, the album moves through heart-wrenching strings of On The Nature Of Daylight to lyrical piano pieces. Using piano, cello, violin and viola, alongside electronic beats (made using a variety of antique electronics and Reaktor), spoken word passages and the occasional field recording (including a very realistic crow that you probably think comes from your garden); other sounds were generated via old guitar pedals and vocoders.