Eric Whitacre Talks 'Chord Clusters' | Explained | Classic FM Meets

Eric Whitacre talks about his famously beautiful ‘chord clusters’.
We filmed the Grammy Award-winning composer and conductor at Blüthner Pianos in London, in an exclusive session for Classic FM. Eric was promoting his upcoming concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Find out more about Eric Whitacre here: www.classicfm.com/composers/w...
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[@zombieraddish]

3:04 I almost spit out my coffee laughing, even though I understood what he meant by it. The choice of words and the way he said it just got me

[@LJMadrigalMusic]

his hands are shaking 🤣

[@JacquelineLanceTenor]

I totally get what he means though. Looking out into the night sky and trying to imagine what's out there does feel kind of wondrous and terrible.

[@thefrayfann]

“It wants to move and stand still at the same time.” Wow.

[@nicoleokundaye2962]

The passion behind everything he does is pretty inspirational ❤️

[@jashonlucius4244]

Not sure of how many times I'll have to watch this again and again to find a way of arranging vocal harmonies like this. Can anyone be gracious enough to explain?

[@jacknisbet3954]

I'm no arranging expert, but essentially he is trying to aurally paint what the words say, at least in the Cloudburst example. How to do that, exactly, takes time and practice. One thing that I like to do when composing like this, though, is to imagine the feeling (for lack of a better word) of the lyrics. For example, say your piece is about a man wanting rest so desperately, but he cannot get it because of the constant pressure of life. In said piece, you could write chords that desperately want to resolve (like suspensions and seventh chords, deceptive cadences could work well here as well), but don't until the very end, when the man does find his piece. You could also have the piece not quite fully resolve if he didn't find any sort of joy, having the chord kind of mirror the regret the man felt on his deathbed. This is just one example, but again, writing harmonies in this style is insanely difficult and takes both time and practice. Hope this helps!

[@idontgivea1769]

Your ears and experimentation

[@OdinComposer]

Look at his scores! And that first example was basically just a D9#11 and I think the second one was a D7 with added 4th and b6

[@soundtreks]

Clusters are terrific because of the close intervals and, depending on the register they are voiced in, they can be rife with overtones that adds texture and harmonic depth.

[@GrotrianSeiler]

Wow, this guy is such a beautiful spirit. His music is stunning.

[@michaelmiller1215]

This ‘theory nerd’ from my first college theory course on 1977 loves your information about the chords!

[@Sarlat1]

What a friendly explanation/demonstration! Seems to me that one using voices would be even better: sustaining the sound energy, rather than the piano with its attack and decay.

[@daviddieffenderfer]

Nice

[@TheRainbowStarlite]

La primer oracion de su discurso expresa totalmente lo que sentimos los coreutas y explica el por qué uno no puede dejar de hacerlo. Gracias Eric!

[@ayarekk9860]

best video ever

[@Harukarc]

I believe a similar chord is used in the Six Feet Under Main Theme

[@spcfsu1]

He takes himself so seriously it's hilarious.

[@paulfreeman4900]

Two bit Arvo Part.

[@expilectakunai]

Definitely takes inspiration from the Part, but Part is definitely more ancient sounding with a modern twist. It’s a different feeling from Whitacre’s music

[@FreakieFan]

Lol 🤡