tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883838569462983439.post5192363804753546218..comments2024-03-28T17:13:53.779-04:00Comments on Progressive Eruptions: Eric Whitacre's Virtual Performance of "Sleep"Shaw Kenawehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08637273000409613497noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1883838569462983439.post-31697553268283156912012-11-25T00:24:20.447-05:002012-11-25T00:24:20.447-05:00Truly a wonderful thing!
Touches upon the sublime...Truly a wonderful thing!<br /><br />Touches upon the sublime.<br /><br />Serene beyond compare -- calming-- refreshing -- transcendent -- balm to the soul.<br /><br />An extraordinary achievement.<br /><br />Whitacre, of course, is charismatic -- mesmeric -- unusually gifted in his ability to attract disparate people as individuals and then draw them together united in a common purpose greater than themselves. <br /><br />One falls easily under Whitacre's spell. You feel as though you'd follow him anywhere without hesitation, if he called upon you.<br /><br />Astonishing that a person who seems so simple, unaffected, down-to-earth and congenial could be in such extraordinarily close touch with what-I-have-to-call The Unifiying Spirit of the Cosmos!<br /><br />The most amazing thing about this is the way it transcends the complex technology on which it is so heavily dependent, and creates a warmly human, very touching work of art.<br /><br />In the wrong hands a gift like Eric Whitacre's could be extremely dangerous. Lenin had it. Hitler had it, and so have a host of other despots and ruthless exploiters.<br /><br />Whitacre, however, seems blest with a benevolent sense of purpose much stronger than egoism run amok. His ego, strong though it surely must be, seems subservient to Something greater than himself.<br /><br />I listened to both videos carefully. The first one twice in succession, and felt myself slipping comfortably away to a Better Place.<br /><br />It may be subconscious on Whitacre's part, but I perceive a deep connection with the music -- and the spirit -- of Samuel Barber. "Sleep" is highly evocative of Barber's Adagio for Strings without in any way being an <i>imitation.</i><br /><br />A lovely gift with which to round off Thanksgiving weekend.<br /><br />Thank you very much, Ms. Shaw. <br /><br />~ FreeThinke<br /><br />FreeThinkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16682678301019952436noreply@blogger.com