Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents The Music of Eric Whitacre
Eric Whitacre, composer/conductor; Distinguished Concerts Singers International
Kelly Yu-Chieh Lin, pianist; Jake Charkey, cellist
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, NY
April 17, 2023
Composer Eric Whitacre, in another fruitful collaboration with Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY), conducted a powerful program of his choral works this week at David Geffen Hall. The concert was what Mr. Whitacre announced to be his 21st concert with this organization, and it was his first time presenting his music in the newly renovated space, which – as Avery Fisher Hall until 2015 and after that David Geffen Hall – had hosted many of his earlier DCINY performances. He praised the beauty of the sound in the hall, and though much of that beauty could be attributed to the compositions themselves and the singers, it is hard to disagree with his reaction.
Many of the works were familiar to this listener, who reviewed Mr. Whitacre’s performances for New York Concert Review first in 2009 and several times since (The Music of Eric Whitacre 2018 and The Music of Eric Whitacre 2022). Three of Mr. Whitacre’s now ubiquitous works were included, Cloudburst (1991) Lux Aurumque (2000), and Sleep (2000), and for those unfamiliar with the music of this composer, these reflect his signature choral style of close harmonies and shimmering textures. Introducing a touch of his humorous side were Animal Crackers, Vol I (2002-2006) and Vol II (2009), set to poems of Ogden Nash, and little man in a hurry from The City and the Sea (2009-2010), set to poems of E.E. Cummings. In addition, there were newer offerings, which showed this composer to be ever-expanding in range and depth, including six movements from The Sacred Veil (2018) a cycle composed for his friend and poet/collaborator Charles Anthony Silvestri. Newer still were two songs, Sing Gently (2020) composed during the pandemic (with text by the composer), and perhaps the most uplifting of the program, All Seems Beautiful to Me (2022) to a text of Walt Whitman.
Lux Aurumque opened and was as lustrous as one recalled but with perhaps an even more polished soprano section than usual in this particular combined chorus. They delivered their early high notes with clarity and made what one might call an upper pedal point ring out above all the other voices more than I can recall hearing. Each time I hear this piece I hear something new like that in it, which makes it always a discovery even after hearing it over and over.
The City and the Sea followed, listed as a set of five songs (though it seems they omitted the fourth – unless it was short and I blinked). It employs what Mr. Whitacre refers to as his “oven mitt technique” – piano clusters on strictly white keys – in the accompaniment. This piano part was played admirably by Kelly Yu-Chieh Lin, who was a pillar for the entire evening (interestingly reading from actual pages rather than a digital tablet as is so prevalent these days). The jaunty opening, i walked the boulevard, set a light-hearted spirit, and was followed by the mesmerizing movement, the moon is hiding in her hair. The text of the next, maggie and milly and molly and may, hovers between innocence and heartbreak, something Mr. Whitacre conveys extremely well, and the final one, little man in a hurry, was delightfully vivid under Mr. Whitacre’s precise and energetic conducting.
Three movements from The Sacred Veil followed, the first two, In a Dark and Distant Year and Home, set to texts by poet Charles Anthony Silvestri, who lost his wife Julie Lawrence Silvestri to cancer when she was just 35. The third song, Magnetic Poetry, was set to a text written by his wife Julie from her poems using refrigerator magnets. The entire 12-movement cycle centers on Mr. Silvestri’s wife and their love, and we heard half of it. The first three (heard in the first half) expressed the pre-diagnosis life together with joy and love, and the later three (in the second half) addressed the illness and loss. Particularly beautiful in the first half were the second and third songs. Home, set to the simple line “You feel like home” as Mr. Silvestri first articulates his feelings for Julie, and Magnetic Poetry, a text for which there could not be a more ideally suited composer than Eric Whitacre. The words “Sleep-swimming through sweaty summer Dream mists” found the listener musically “swimming” through some sort of harmonic nebula, to stunning effect. With fine solo cellist Jake Charney sending his singing lines soaring through it all, the three songs cast a unique spell.
The first half of the program closed with the famous Cloudburst, in which the chorus makes clapping sounds (augmented by audience snapping later), collectively evoking the sounds of rainfall. The thrill of that one never gets old.
After intermission, we heard the Pembroke College Chapel Choir (UK) singing Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine under the direction of Anna Lapwood. We are told it was a relatively late entry, but it certainly added much to the program. Along with Mr. Whitacre’s unique integration of sound effects into his harmonies to convey a sense of flying, we heard some stylistic hints of Renaissance music to place Leonardo’s dreams in history, and the fusion evoked a great overview of time, from DaVinci’s days forward. Mr. Whitacre’s text setting is expert here, as usual. Between imitative music set to the release of “pigeons one by one” and the vocal “tolling” of a clock, the story came magically to life.
An unexpected note of humor came before the Ogden Nash songs as a microphone mishap left us hearing Mr. Whitacre’s voice backstage (and other extraneous noises) through part of the Leonardo piece. After the composer emerged to congratulate Ms. Lapwood and the chorus, he asked the audience, “Did I leave the mic on?” – and all were more than happy to sing out a “yes” with a unison force that would put any chorus to shame – everyone’s a critic, but all in fun.
The mood was then just right then for Animal Crackers, Vol I (2002-2006) (The Panther, The Cow, and the Firefly) and II (2009) The Canary, The Eel, and The Kangaroo). These were hilarious settings of Nash’s poetry, demonstrating a mastery of the musical equivalents of poker face and punchline. The timing had to be brilliant, and it was, in the pieces themselves and the delivery. There was respect for each poem’s brevity – the “soul of wit” after all – yet where prolonging was called for, it was ingenious, such as in The Canary (the song of canaries never varies”), with its incessant repetition of the line “never varies” – a hilarious touch that Nash would surely have applauded.
In addition to the humorous poems, the running commentary by Mr. Whitacre himself was entertaining throughout, from the story of his piece Seal Lullaby (orphaned by a studio’s decision to create Kung-Fu Panda instead) to the legal troubles in attempting to publish Sleep with its original Robert Frost text (replaced later with a Silvestri text).
Particularly inspired and inspiring was the new piece, All Seems Beautiful to Me (2022), set to a text by Walt Whitman (from “Song of the Open Road”) and commissioned by the US Air Force Band. I confess that I had already heard a rendition of it by Voces8 online so was already captivated by it with a small ensemble – but it worked for a large chorus as well. Whitman’s text is a perfect match for Whitacre’s spacious musical style, some of it seeming too heaven-sent to be true, such as the line “I inhale great draughts of space.” If Whitacre had not chosen this text, I would have chosen it for him, to suit the ethereal quality of much of his part-writing. The text-setting throughout was again inspired, including, as one example, the accelerating polyphony set to the words “I will scatter myself.”
Sing Gently (2020) followed, set to the composer’s own text. As the composer’s notes on it state: “Ten years ago we created the Virtual Choir with a simple question: is it possible to make beautiful music together, no matter how far apart we are? After multiple virtual choir projects featuring over 20,000 singers from 124 different countries, the answer is a resounding yes. We continue the journey with a new piece I’ve written especially for the Virtual Choir during these challenging times, Sing Gently.” It was given a devout and sensitive reading.
Three more songs from The Sacred Veil followed. The first two, set to texts by Julie Lawrence Silvestri (from her blog during treatment) told stories of bravery and joy in the face of illness (in Delicious Times) and a desperate will to live and plea for prayer in the face of a terminal diagnosis (in Dear Friends). The final piece, Child of Wonder (text by the composer), served as a blessing and farewell. It was at once poignant, personal, and universal. Fittingly the evening closed with Sleep (2000), beautifully sung up through the last repetition of the impossibly soft final word “sleep.”
Participating Groups included the Pine Crest School Select Ensemble, Mississippi School Of The Arts Chorale, Summit Ensemble Of The Colorado Springs, Children’s Chorale, Blue Hawk Singers, Wagner College Choir, Montclair State University Chorale & Alumni Affiliates, Newton County High School Choir, Singspirations, Ozarks Technical Community College: Chamber Choir, Saint Edward’s School Choirs, and The Pembroke College Chapel Choir.
