Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Friday, November 23, 2012

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Performance of "Sleep"

Eric Whitacre's "Sleep."

Enjoy.






Here's the story of this composer's project.

1 comment:

FreeThinke said...

Truly a wonderful thing!

Touches upon the sublime.

Serene beyond compare -- calming-- refreshing -- transcendent -- balm to the soul.

An extraordinary achievement.

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.

One falls easily under Whitacre's spell. You feel as though you'd follow him anywhere without hesitation, if he called upon you.

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!

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.

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.

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.

I listened to both videos carefully. The first one twice in succession, and felt myself slipping comfortably away to a Better Place.

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 imitation.

A lovely gift with which to round off Thanksgiving weekend.

Thank you very much, Ms. Shaw.

~ FreeThinke