“On The Nature Of Daylight”: My Favorite Song Without Words

Max Richter’s liminal masterpiece

For most of my younger life, it was the vocalist that defined the song. With a saxophone-playing, band-leading father, it was understandable that he felt differently. The disagreement was an internecine sore point in our family during my more juvenile years.

“Does this song have… words?” I’d ask when my dad tried to turn me onto his sophisticated, dad-mu…