Eric Whitacre - BBC Singers - Kings Singers

[hedgehog]

Well........... Whitacre is popular with amateur choirs and a cut above Rutter. I've heard a few of his pieces and I find them effective. That is where I'd place his repertoire though - with good amateur choirs, generally I'd expect other repertoire from the BBC singers. His work often appears alongside more technically challenging contemporary repertoire in concerts and works well too in that respect.

[Serial_Apologist]

Well........... Whitacre is popular with amateur choirs and a cut above Rutter. I've heard a few of his pieces and I find them effective. That is where I'd place his repertoire though - with good amateur choirs, generally I'd expect other repertoire from the BBC singers. His work often appears alongside more technically challenging contemporary repertoire in concerts and works well too in that respect.

You mean it gives you time to pop out for a wee while it's on, is I guess what you mean.

[hedgehog]

You mean it gives you time to pop out for a wee while it's on, is I guess what you mean.

No what I mean is that it makes it possible for good amateur choirs to present a whole programme of contemporary music - some pieces more and some less demanding for the singers.
If you want to go out for a quick fag/drink/pee, then that makes everybody happy, no? ( Whitacre is just one of very many composers I'd put in the filler category btw)

[ardcarp]

OK. It was tabula rasa time for me. I relaxed and listened without preconception. EW's public manner, a bit touchy-feely but humorous, might not appeal to everyone. It clearly went down a bundle with the audience. It's easy to be sniffy about his musical language, but I find he has some original ideas which go beyond the merely repetitive stuff of the minimalists.

For me the first half of the programme was the best. Leonardo Dreams of his FM, Alone and The Stolen Child were sensitively done by the BBCS and the Kings Singers. Indeed EW obviously has a choral-training knack and elicited some quiet passages from the Beebs. This was lost a bit in the second half I felt, where the music (IMHO) was also generally naffer.

Love him or hate him, I think EW is a bit of a phenomenon...and if anyone else wants to dip a toe in the water, try the very first piece. It paid a sort of homage to Italian madrigalists...even if Leonardo pre-dated them a bit.

[Gabriel Jackson]

OK. It was tabula rasa time for me. I relaxed and listened without preconception. EW's public manner, a bit touchy-feely but humorous, might not appeal to everyone. It clearly went down a bundle with the audience. It's easy to be sniffy about his musical language, but I find he has some original ideas which go beyond the merely repetitive stuff of the minimalists.

For me the first half of the programme was the best. Leonardo Dreams of his FM, Alone and The Stolen Child were sensitively done by the BBCS and the Kings Singers. Indeed EW obviously has a choral-training knack and elicited some quiet passages from the Beebs. This was lost a bit in the second half I felt, where the music (IMHO) was also generally naffer.

Love him or hate him, I think EW is a bit of a phenomenon...and if anyone else wants to dip a toe in the water, try the very first piece. It paid a sort of homage to Italian madrigalists...even if Leonardo pre-dated them a bit.

Eric is a nice guy, a generous and supportive colleague to many, and has a unique ability to inspire and enthuse people. He has played a huge role in popularising the choral medium and attracting new listeners (and practioners). It is easy (and cheap) to sneer at him but, like John Rutter in his different way, he has done an enormous amount for choral music, and choral singing.

[underthecountertenor]

Well........... Whitacre is popular with amateur choirs and a cut above Rutter. I've heard a few of his pieces and I find them effective. That is where I'd place his repertoire though - with good amateur choirs, generally I'd expect other repertoire from the BBC singers. His work often appears alongside more technically challenging contemporary repertoire in concerts and works well too in that respect.

Why is he a cut above Rutter, rather than just being very different from him?

[hedgehog]

Why is he a cut above Rutter, rather than just being very different from him?

Ah, sorry I should have added imo. Personally I find Whitacre's music a little more imaginative. A piece like Cloudburst for instance is extremely well done, a journey in sound - not new as such, but still very fresh to the ear, not caught up in or alluding to a tradition ( I know, that sounds like a contradiction, but it isn't - like a salad, the mix may not be new but you know if it's fresh or not ).

[Black Swan]

I totally agree that he has helped Choral music immensely. However, for me I don't like his music. But others do and I am happy for them.

[Roehre]

I totally agree that he has helped Choral music immensely. However, for me I don't like his music. But others do and I am happy for them.

That makes two of us

[ardcarp]

Talking of Cloudburst reminds me of....

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA67543

... a CD of Whitacre's choral music, entitled Cloudburst performed superbly by Polyphony. There was some controversy a little while ago when [if my memory serves me correctly] Whitacre presented an edition of The Choir and implied that his recently formed Eric Whitacre Singers were the best in the universe at performing his music. It struck many at the time as being a teeny bit boastful. Many (not least members of Polyphony) also thought it untrue!

[Ian]

The planet of choral music seems to exist in a parallel universe to, pretty much, the rest of ‘classical’ music: Last week I spent an enjoyable day attending some end of year ‘recitals’ given by the post-graduate choral conducting students at the RWCMD. In all I heard seventeen pieces and all but six were by living composers. So natural and normal this seemed, it didn’t immediately occur to me how different this was from your average orchestral (etc.) season where you would be lucky to find more than a couple of new pieces in an entire season.

[ardcarp]

What an interesting experience. Give us an idea of the composers, Ian.

[Ian]

Purcell,
Britten,
Rist (b. 1988)
MacMillan
Camilleri (d. 2003)
Portelli (b. 1973)
Gasparini (18c)
Muscat (b.1977)
Elgar
Aguiar (b. 1949)
Stroope (b. 1953)
Budi Susanoto Yohanes (b. 1979)
Ireland
Chilcott
Ola Gjeilo

[ardcarp]

Thanks, Ian! What was the format...every student bringing his/her own group of singers, or a fixed choir upon which they all worked. Were there some clearly outstanding budding choral directors??

[Ian]

Thanks, Ian! What was the format...every student bringing his/her own group of singers, or a fixed choir upon which they all worked. Were there some clearly outstanding budding choral directors??

A pool of singers, mainly undergrads, but also including the conductors themselves when not actually conducting. They were all excellent.