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VOCES8’s gorgeous sound, impeccable ensemble and intense responsiveness to text, harmony and melodic shape is all of the highest quality...when Whitacre deploys a touch more harmonic bite, his... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2023, 5 out of 5 stars (Performance) / 4 out of 5 stars (Recording) More…

Release Date: 14th Apr 2023
Catalogue No: 4853970
Label: Decca
Length: 72 minutes

BBC Music Magazine

June 2023

Choral & Song Choice

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Whitacre: Go, lovely Rose

Work length4:32

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Voces8
Eric Whitacre
Recorded: 2022-04-10
Recording Venue: VOCES8 Centre, London

Whitacre: The Seal Lullaby

Work length4:34

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Christopher Glynn (piano)
Voces8
Eric Whitacre
Recorded: 2022-04-10
Recording Venue: VOCES8 Centre, London

Whitacre: Sing Gently

Work length3:44

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Christopher Glynn (piano)
Voces8
Eric Whitacre
Recorded: 2022-04-10
Recording Venue: VOCES8 Centre, London

Whitacre: All Seems Beautiful to Me

Work length4:52

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Voces8
Eric Whitacre
Recorded: 2022-04-10
Recording Venue: VOCES8 Centre, London

Whitacre: The Sacred Veil

Work length55:01

$13.20

$18.00

$24.60

Christopher Glynn (piano), Emma Denton (cello)
Voces8
Eric Whitacre
Recorded: 2022-04-10
Recording Venue: VOCES8 Centre, London

I. The Veil Opens

Track length6:17

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$2.05

II. In a Dark and Distant Year

Track length2:06

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III. Home

Track length3:55

$1.10

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$2.05

IV. Magnetic Poetry

Track length7:09

$1.10

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V. Whenever There is Birth

Track length3:30

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VI. I'm Afraid

Track length5:22

$1.10

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$2.05

VII. I am Here

Track length2:10

$1.10

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VIII. Delicious Times

Track length5:07

$1.10

$1.50

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IX. One Last Breath

Track length1:56

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

X. Dear Friends

Track length3:19

$1.10

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$2.05

XI. You Rise, I Fall

Track length9:29

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

XII. Child of Wonder

Track length4:41

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

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Interview, Eric Whitacre at... 30!

26th April 2023

Looking back over three decades of music, the world-renowned composer talks Whitman, musical hits and misses, and the correlation between a piece's length and the age of the composer's children...

Two branches of choral royalty entwine with majestic harmony on the latest release from Grammy-winning composer Eric Whitacre and acclaimed vocal ensemble VOCES8. The album includes a world premiere, All Seems Beautiful To Me, and a new recording of Whitacre’s deeply moving 2019 cantata The Sacred Veil.

The five-minute work All Seems Beautiful To Me is based on a poem by Walt Whitman (from Song of the Open Road) celebrating the human spirit’s capacity for generosity and growth. It was commissioned by the United States Air Force Band and here receives its world-premiere recording. Also included is a new recording of one of Whitacre’s most frequently performed and much loved pieces, The Seal Lullaby.

The album also includes Sing Gently and Go, Lovely Rose. The former was composed during lockdown specially for Whitacre’s Virtual Choir, made up of over 17,500 singers from 124 different countries. The latter was Whitacre’s first ever composition, written 30 years ago, and thus the new album is also, in part, a joyful celebration of his three decades as a composer.

The longest work is the twelve-movement, hour-long 2019 cantata The Sacred Veil for choir, cello (Emma Denton), and piano (Christopher Glynn). The text, by Whitacre’s close friend and long-time collaborator Charles Anthony Silvestri, commemorates the death of the poet’s young wife Julie from ovarian cancer. It journeys from the growth of their love, through the birth of their children, to their struggle with the illness. One particularly striking section ‘You Rise, I Fall’ involves extraordinary descending and ascending tone-clusters mirroring the emotional states of the dying woman and her husband.

Reviews

June 2023

VOCES8’s gorgeous sound, impeccable ensemble and intense responsiveness to text, harmony and melodic shape is all of the highest quality...when Whitacre deploys a touch more harmonic bite, his work is richly rewarding and could not hope for better advocates than VOCES8.

July 2023

Voces8 are the perfect match for this repertory, with a first-rate recording capturing their trademark acoustic ‘halo’.

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Interview, Eric Whitacre at... 30!

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