Album artwork for Light & Gold
I’m certainly not the first one to hop on the Eric Whitacre bandwagon, and I definitely won’t be the last. He’s been heralded as the most successful classical composer of the modern era, and both of his albums (Light & Gold in 2010 and Water Night in 2012) have topped the charts within days of their release. On top of that, Light & Gold won the Grammy for Best Choral Performance in 2012. He is also the mastermind behind the innovative Virtual Choir series, combining the voices of thousands of YouTubers across the globe into a single, beautiful choir. Basically, this guy is a big deal. With that said, I’ve been touched by his music in the same way that millions of others have, and wanted to take the time to acknowledge such a tremendous accomplishment on Whitacre’s part. Light & Gold is one of the best collections of choral music that I’ve ever heard, and its large assortment of accolades was not awarded erroneously.
The album starts off in perhaps the best possible way: with the song “Lux Aurumque.” For those of you familiar with the three Virtual Choir projects that have been created thus far (with the fourth one, “Fly,” in production now), “Lux Aurumque” is easily recognizable as the one that started it all. Virtual Choir 1 was premiered back in March 2010, and probably contributed a great deal to the spread of Whitacre’s influence across the world. Not only was the piece beautifully arranged and performed, but it stood as a monument to the wonders that can be achieved through race-wide collaboration between humans from all cultures, locations, and backgrounds.
Audio Intimacy 