#2597: Eric Whitacre's Cloudburst

For this edition of New Sounds, the young American composer Eric Whitacre joins host John Schaefer to present music from his latest record, “Cloudburst.” His recorded music output, so far is mostly dazzling unaccompanied vocal writing, where Whitacre’s original compositional voice is immediately obvious, in that he’s assimilated everything from prog rock to Mozart and Copland. He’s going for a heart-melting mix of expressively beautiful sound, where lush and shimmering moments give way to elegant and satisfying dramatic conclusions. His work-in-progress opera electronica, “Paradise Lost,” is a “cutting edge musical combining trance, ambient and techno electronica with choral, cinematic, and operatic traditions” and will run at The Theatre at Boston Court in California in July 2007.

PROGRAM # 2597, with Eric Whitacre (First aired on Tues. 10/24/06)

ARTIST(S)	RECORDING	CUT(S)	SOURCE
Eric Whitacre	Cloudburst	Go, Lovely Rose [4:00] Sleep [5:30] Cloudburst [8:30] This Marriage [3:00] Lux Aurumque [4:00] hope, faith, life, love [4:00]	Hyperion #67543 www.hyperion-records.co.uk
Arvo Part	Da Pacem	Da Pacem Domine [6:00]	Harmonia Mundi 907401 ** www.harmoniamundi.com*

*, ** - Find the recordings you've heard - go to the New Sounds Recordings Information page