So here are some follow-up links to more info on Eric Whitacre. Of course, a Google search will probably reveal a plethora of results, these are the ones I found most relevant.
www.ericwhitacre.com is his official website, the one that requires the latest version of Flash to view.
His Wikipedia page also gives a list of links.
John Schaeffer's interview on "New Sounds" can be found at:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/newsounds/episodes/2008/10/01
This interview, of course, actually includes the music they discuss.
A search on youtube will bring up more videos that you probably want to deal with, but here are some I liked:
-Get some "Sleep," arranged for marimbas— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stM4xTBKAIM
-In "Godzilla Eats Las Vegas" (in two parts), you too can experience the joy of hearing "I'll Be Seeing You in All the Old Familar Places" over the top of Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcuxVggc5FI
-Get an idea for the theatricality of "Cloudburst"— http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5lolF-7jKM
Enjoy!
I think it'd be pretty difficult to not enjoy a presentation about Eric Whitacre. I liked how whenever Enoch asked us if we wanted to listen to an excerpt of a piece, our collective "yes" rang in the room for a couple of seconds afterwards.
ReplyDeleteWhitacre has grabbed a firm hold in the classical music world. I mean, really, how many people do you know who don't like his music? When "October" was published, there was a mad rush by high school bands across the country to perform it. A fun question to ask people in undergrad was not whether they had played it, but how many times. I also got to play his arrangments of "Cloudburst" and "Lux Aurumque" in band. Both pieces were very well received, even though some of the audience members noticed some errors (intonation, attacks, releases, etc.). However, when similar audiences hear Morton Lauridsen's setting of "O Magnum Mysterium" or Frank Ticheli's "Sanctuary", many think the pieces are "nice". There doesn't seem to be the same sort of magic as with Whitacre's music.
A couple of years ago, my sister gave my father a copy of Cloudburst (the CD) for his birthday. He was very excited after listening to it. He exclaimed, "It's so exhilerating to be alive at time when such great music is being created!" I didn't really consider why a comment like that was so important.
My father is 60 years old -- yeah, he's a baby boomer. He was glued to the television during Vietnam wondering whether his number would be called. He shook his head when the Watergate scandal came to light. Dad even endured the rise and (thankfully) fall of the mullet. The career he chose requires him to work with people living in despair on a daily basis. Why has Whitacre's music leave such an impact on him?
I hope to hear his views on this soon...I sent him an e-mail about the CD.
If I had to describe Eric Whitacre's music in one word, I'd call it sublime. I can think of a few other composers whose music makes me stop in my tracks -- Samuel Barber (Adagio for Strings), Pavel Tchesnokov (Salvation is Created), Brahms (he wrote LOTS of good clarinet stuff) -- but it doesn't happen to me all that often. I'm glad I'm not a theorist or a composer; Enoch's challenge of explaining why Whitacre's music works so well is a daunting one! Still, I wonder why his music is so effective for such a wide audience.
What is it about his music that makes people stop and listen?
I did a presentation on Eric Whitacre in my undergraduate degree (boy, I wish I was as organized then as I am now so I could refer to my notes from then and reflect on my insights). I've loved him ever since!!
ReplyDeleteEnoch, FANTASTIC presentation.
I think that perhaps Eric Whitacre answers the lifelong musical question 'Where to from here?' His combination of old and new with his passion and ability to relay that in his music certainly has captivated the ears of connoisseurs and amateurs.
One of my most memorable concert experiences during undergrad at Asbury [with Enoch] was sitting with the band on stage while listening to the choir [including Enoch] sing an Eric Whitacre piece -- it was the first time I was drawn into choral music. For me, that is the ultimate magic and beauty of live music -- when the performace includes everyone, not just those "making" the music but also those taking it in.
ReplyDeleteHaving played several of compositions or transcriptions for band [Ghost Train, Godzilla Eats Las Vegas, and October], I know that palpable, magical experience from the stage in very different musical contexts -- Whitacre engages audience participation as part of the music.
Some of the composers we have talked about have been quite the opposite -- very exclusive. More of my thoughts on that will follow soon.
One of the highlights of getting my Master's degree at UNLV was playing in the Wind Orchestra when Whitacre came back to conduct October. His revelations from the podium and his interpretation of the music really made me hear the piece in a way I hadn't before (and I'd heard and played the piece MANY times before). He did a remarkable job of getting a bunch of students in the desert to understand things like the first frost of the season, the harvest, and changing leaves, and to convey that understanding as if they'd always had it.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the first-hand experience, I also had a few surreal Whitacre-related "A-ha!" moments at UNLV. We played Ghost Train (the entire triptych, not just the first movement), and getting to play the actual waterphone that inspired him to score for the instrument was a neat experience. Also, the story we heard in class on Tuesday about Whitacre happening to hear the Wind Orchestra rehearsing one day and being enchanted by the sound (a story which is often told at UNLV) actually took place in the old bandroom, which is currently the percussion studio (part of which was my TA office for two years). This, of course, is nothing profound, but it's kind of cool to have a little connection to these stories and to be able to picture these events in the settings in which they happened.
Not sure which is cooler, Enoch's signed scores or your actual playing under Eric Whitacre. Feel like I need to point out how incredibly fortunate students in the States are to be able to have first hand experiences with the music and composers that have created such a big impression on the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteI know my students back at the girls college I taught at in my home town would have died to meet Eric Whitacre. When they saw his picture, they ALL wanted to play his music.