Eric Whitacre: Light & Gold

I remember years ago, while living in my little rent-controlled apartment in Santa Monica, listening to the lilting Duruflé Requiem, calmly dreaming away, awash in the lovely choral music. A next door neighbor of mine roared into the underground parking structure in his muscle car and yelled up, “Hey Tom, who died?”

Eric Whitacre is changing all that. He’s gotten more young people interested in joining choirs than anybody else. He travels the world doing choral workshops. He singlehandedly has remolded a musty and often-ignored genre.

His Facebook page gets thousands of hits from all over the world, and he has innumerable fans who follow him.

Light and Gold. His previous album, the luminous

Cloudburst cd of 2006, went to the top of the classical charts. The new album will most likely do the same. His gift for harmony, his eclectic repertoire, his rich harmonies make it pretty certain that

Light and Gold will continue this success. His music is accessible and lacks any trace of the dourness that often has marked Baltic choral music of Estonians like Arvo Part. But Whitacre is never saccharine. Like the Estonians, Whitacre has tremendous depth but also has warmth and humanity.

-- Tom Schnabel, KCRW Music Host

Light & Gold is available On-Demand from October 11 through November 9, 2010.

Website: http://ericwhitacre.com

http://ericwhitacre.com

Track listing

1. Lux Aurumque

2. Five Hebrew Love Songs: Temuná (A Picture)

3. Five Hebrew Love Songs: Kalá Kallá (Light Bride)

4. Five Hebrew Love Songs: Lárov (Mostly)

5. Five Hebrew Love Songs: Éyze Shéleg! (What Snow!)

6. Five Hebrew Love Songs: Rakút (Tenderness)

7. The Seal Lullaby

8. A Boy And A Girl

9. Leonardo Dreams Of His Flying Machine

10. Three Songs Of Faith: I Will Wade Out

11. Three Songs Of Faith: Hope Faith Life Love

12. Three Songs Of Faith: I Thank You God For Most This Amazing Day

13. The Stolen Child

14. Water Night

15. Nox Aurumque

16. Sleep