Prom 60: Eric Whitacre’s Eternity in an Hour – BBC commission world première @ the BBC Proms

Eric Whitacre
Eternity in an Hour
Text William Blake

Christopher Glynn piano

12 Ensemble:

Eloisa-Fleur Thom first violin

Zahra Benyounes second violin

Connie Pharoah viola

Max Ruisi cello

BBC Singers

Lesjamusic live electronics 

Eric Whitacre conductor/live electronics

Too late to be officially printed in the programme, Tuesday’s news that Eric Whitacre has been appointed the BBC Singers’ Artist in Residence in its centenary year from immediate effect, meant that his BBC commission for the group, based on William Blake, Eternity in an Hour was the first fruits of the collaboration.

Marking a departure for Whitacre, in that it is the first time he has used electronics in a score, Eternity in an Hour really did live up to its title, adding to his usual soaring choral lines a penumbra of live electronic timbres created by both Whitacre and Lesjamusic’s manipulation on two black-shrouded mixing desks at the front of the stage from the string quartet of musicians from 12 Ensemble.  Additionally, pianist Christopher Glynn offered solo glosses and occasional interludes, seated stage right.

While all others were in some form of concert dress (conductor, Lesjamusic and quartet in black, Glynn in a grey suit), the BBC Singers themselves were in T-shirts and casual slacks. 

As Whitacre explained from the stage, he had been fascinated by these four lines from Blake’s Auguries of Innocence since his teenage years and, in the first and last of the eight sections of the works, the four lines are sung complete, while the eight sections themselves correspond to half a line each, though often it is the sound not the sense of the word that is the main motive force.

Contemplative, mystical and soaring by turns, the seamless flow of the music was ideally suited to the imposing rotunda of the Royal Albert Hall, the eternity of the words matched by the splendour of the man-made cavern as the vocal and electronic sounds rose to fill every corner, before ultimately dissipating.  Whether it would have the same effect in a more modern concert hall remains to be seen, but I hope this is more than an occasional work.  

Timed to the stated ‘hour’ in the title, Whitacre and his performers were roundly cheered and applauded by an audience who hopefully (like me) left the hall in a more peaceful and generous frame of mind than before.