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What do you think of Eric Whitacre and his music??

if you haven't heard of him, go here

www.ericwhitacre.com

Eric Whitacre is amazing! It is my biggest dream to get to meet him...

He's a great composer. He and Frank Ticheli are my favorites. What'll be really cool is that our wind ensemble may possibly go to an Eric Whitacre festival in Australia (at the Sydney Opera House) summer 2006. I really really really hope we do, because that would be so amazing! (even with a $4500 price tag... )

I <3 Eric Whitacre.

In relation to bgirl781's post, I've gotten an opportunity to perform at the Sydney Opera House, and it's amazing. I love that place. Hope you get to experience it.

october is one of my favorite pieces of all time.

hate 'em

All his stuff for band sounds the same. Great writer for choral works, but he's guilty like Holsinger (Ballet Sacra vs. To Tame the Perilous Skies) and Ticheli (Amazing Grace vs. Shenedoah) of simply rewriting things that made him popular. If you don't agree, listen to Sleep and then Lux Arumque (sp?), and tell me those don't sound the same.

Poor planning on his website...

You open one window and hear rain. You click to hear an MP3 of his music. A new window opens and the rain doesn't stop. I thought it was a scratchy record at first, but this music has probably never been on black vinyl!

The music is nice.

Poor planning on his website...

You open one window and hear rain. You click to hear an MP3 of his music. A new window opens and the rain doesn't stop. I thought it was a scratchy record at first, but this music has probably never been on black vinyl!

The music is nice.

You can turn the rain sound off on the web site...

In recent Eric Whitacre news...the VPHS band played October at the concert tonight. Sadly it was not as good as the recording on his MySpace.

MalleTragic wrote:You can turn the rain sound off on the web site...

Duh! As a creator of websites for other people besides myself I try to steer away from popups and extraneous noises.

At least I warned those who go to his site that the rain is not record scratches.

someguywhodoesthings wrote:All his stuff for band sounds the same. Great writer for choral works, but he's guilty like Holsinger (Ballet Sacra vs. To Tame the Perilous Skies) and Ticheli (Amazing Grace vs. Shenedoah) of simply rewriting things that made him popular. If you don't agree, listen to Sleep and then Lux Arumque (sp?), and tell me those don't sound the same.

my god they are the same song!!! haha, nice catch, i personally like some of his works, but i would have to agree that alot of his stuff sounds the same

My wife for a time before the onslaught of pregnancy and childbirth and the trauma that goes with it was actually a professional paid performer with both the Pacific Chorale and John Alexander Singers based out of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Good old Eric was the resident composer for the PC, and he sort of knew my wife from earlier meetings. One night, after a performance, I had the chance to meet Eric. Of course, my lovely bride, said "This is my band geek husband, Ryan. He writes field shows for marching bands." Geeeeeee thanks dear. Let's not forget I'm also a crappy trombone player and I snore.

But I digress.

So I shake his hand, and in keeping with said geekiness, I said jovially, "An honor to meet you. You're a pretty popular composer in the band and drum and bugle corps world, you know." And his eyes got sort of big, and he said "Oh really." And I said, "Yeah...Spirit is doing Ghost Train, and October seems to be a hit. Were you aware of your popularity with band geeks like myself in the marching world?" He said he was getting to "understand" that popularity.

Great guy. KNOCK OUT WIFE!!!!!!!! I mean, she's very nice.

Yeah.

Whatever.

Ryan H. Turner wrote:My wife for a time before the onslaught of pregnancy and childbirth and the trauma that goes with it was actually a professional paid performer with both the Pacific Chorale and John Alexander Singers based out of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Good old Eric was the resident composer for the PC, and he sort of knew my wife from earlier meetings. One night, after a performance, I had the chance to meet Eric. Of course, my lovely bride, said "This is my band geek husband, Ryan. He writes field shows for marching bands." Geeeeeee thanks dear. Let's not forget I'm also a crappy trombone player and I snore.

But I digress.

So I shake his hand, and in keeping with said geekiness, I said jovially, "An honor to meet you. You're a pretty popular composer in the band and drum and bugle corps world, you know." And his eyes got sort of big, and he said "Oh really." And I said, "Yeah...Spirit is doing Ghost Train, and October seems to be a hit. Were you aware of your popularity with band geeks like myself in the marching world?" He said he was getting to "understand" that popularity.

Great guy. KNOCK OUT WIFE!!!!!!!! I mean, she's very nice.

Yeah.

Whatever.

(that was in reference to ryan's post hehe)

anyways Eric Whitacre.. yes... love the guy.. man to bad he's married. he's hot... I'd uh... yea.. :-p

he has a myspace!!!
http://myspace.com/ericwhitacre

anyways yea I'd love to meet him if I can... ahhh.... such awesome music...

Ryan H. Turner wrote: So I shake his hand, and in keeping with said geekiness, I said jovially, "An honor to meet you. You're a pretty popular composer in the band and drum and bugle corps world, you know." And his eyes got sort of big, and he said "Oh really." And I said, "Yeah...Spirit is doing Ghost Train, and October seems to be a hit. Were you aware of your popularity with band geeks like myself in the marching world?" He said he was getting to "understand" that popularity.

Whatever.

I had a little incident with him on his web site. I was asking questions about a very poorly designed tremelo and what he would think about adding vibraphone to the piece. You would think I'd said I've crossed his name out and inserted my own. He went into a tirade about how his pieces are not "arrangements" to be toyed with. If I was not going to play them as written. he'd rather I not play them at all. Again, that was just a question. I'm glad I didn't mention I have a muted cornet playing the oboe solo. Since I paid (overpaid?) $90.00 for the one page piece, with no folder wrapped around it, I'm going to play it for festival. However, I never plan on using his music ever again.

What do I think of him? he's an egotistical jerk.

There's my, say. Let the attacks on me begin.

I must say that I can't blame him for taking that attitude. He pours his sweat and blood for days, weeks, and months into a piece, and I think it's more than fair that he wants his work to be respected. By adding or changing an instrument, you are re-orchestrating what he has done- altering his creative vision. A piece of music isn't just some petty thing, it is a fragile work of art that deserves the utmost respect.

On one hand, you're right that the conductor has some leeway in making the piece their own, but on the other hand, it's not really that outrageous of him to say. How do you think Beethoven would react if he found out that some people had altered his timpani parts (not just changing dynamics, but actually adding additional notes or changing notes)?

EDIT: By no means do I mean this as a question of your legitimacy as a conductor or creative force. My reference above about the Beethoven timpani parts is true- timpani parts have been edited, and by highly respected people such as Lorin Maazel (NY Phil).

Anyways, that's just my two cents. Are you talking about October? If you are, I'm assuming that the tremolo you refer to is the one in the clarinet part that goes over the break.