Water Night (Whitacre) - from CDA67543 - Hyperion Records

Radiance by Simon Cook (b1954)
Private Collection / Bridgeman Art Library, London

Track(s) taken from CDA67543

For Water Night (1995), a subtle, ecstatically poised response to a remarkable poem by the Mexican, Nobel Prize-winning writer Octavio Paz (1914–1998), Whitacre wrote: ‘The poetry of Octavio Paz is a composer’s dream. The music seems to set itself (without the usual struggle that invariably accompanies this task) and the process feels more like cleaning the oils from an ancient canvas to reveal the hidden music than composing.’

Digital booklet (PDF)

Recording details: January 2005
Temple Church, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by Simon Eadon
Release date: February 2006
Total duration: 5 minutes 3 seconds

Water Night

First line:

Night with the eyes of a horse that trembles in the night

composer

Eric Whitacre (b1970)

1995

author of text

Octavio Paz (1914-1998)

Agua nocturna

translator of text

Muriel Rukeyser (1913-1980)

Polyphony, Stephen Layton (conductor)