Eric Whitacre is one of the world's greatest living choral composers, in my humble opinion. I was first exposed to his work in my freshman year of University, when our Chamber Choir studied his piece entitled "Water Night." It was also my first exposure to singing modern choral works, as prior to that my experience had been limited to Renaissance/ Sacred Polyphony.
Technically, this is one of the more challenging pieces I've worked on as a chorister. Whitacre's changing metre, long and demanding legato phrasing, and dense harmonic washes are difficult enough to master, but in this piece what was more challenging were the moments of perfect unison between the voice parts. When achieved, it takes the listener's breath away.
Whitacre's music also taught me something besides the technical challenges. This piece taught me to open my ears and to realise that there is so much beautiful music that works well outside of the traditional harmonic structures I'd been used to singing and listening to. "Water Night" isn't a difficult piece to open your ears and mind to, simply because of its transcendent beauty, but it still challenges the listener and served as a good stepping stone to the rest of the realm of modern music.
In addition, "Water Night" also introduced me to the wonderful poetry of Octavio Paz.
Praise God, that there is so much that is beautiful in this world!
Enjoy!
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