Eric Whitacre

Eric’s choral setting of Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon, featuring the Eric Whitacre Singers and soprano Grace Davidson.

Over the first six years of his life, I must have read Goodnight Moon to my son a thousand times, maybe more. Somewhere around reading number 500 I began hearing little musical fragments as I read, and over time those fragments began to blossom into a simple, sweet lullaby. I knew it was a long shot, but I asked my manager, Claire Long, to contact HarperCollins and see if they would allow the text to be set to music. To my surprise and delight they agreed – the first time they had ever allowed Goodnight Moon to be used in such a way. I composed the piece relatively quickly, setting the text for harp, string orchestra, and my son’s mother, soprano Hila Plitmann. I later created a version for soprano and piano and finally, SATB choir and piano.

– Eric Whitacre

Release Date: 20 July 2018

Eric Whitacre composer & conductor
Eric Whitacre Singers choir
SOPRANO Charlotte Ashley, Alison Ponsford-Hill, Victoria Meteyard, Emilia Morton, Ruth Provost, Amy Wood
ALTO Helen Charlston, Hannah Cooke, Ruth Kiang, Ksynia Loeffler, Martha McLorinan, Chloe Morgan
TENOR Ruairi Bowen, Benedict Hymas, Tom Kelly, Gareth Treseder, Ben Vonberg-Clark, David de Winter
BASS Simon Gallear, Jimmy Holliday, Oliver Hunt, Edmund Saddington, Greg Skidmore, Simon Whiteley
Grace Davidson soprano
Chris Glynn piano

Simon Rhodes producer
Mike Hatch, Floating Earth sound engineer

Label: UNQUIET, UNQ009

Recorded at Air Studios in July 2017