Cloudburst is one of Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre

Eric Whitacre is an American composer, conductor and lecturer. He is one of the most popular and performed composers of his generation. In 2008, the all-Whitacre choral CD Cloudburst became an international best-seller, topping the classical charts and earning a Grammy nomination...

's most famous compositions

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

. It dates from 1992, when the composer was only 22. It is written for eight-part choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

, accompanied by piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and percussion. The text is from Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature.-Early life and writings:...

's poem El Cántaro Roto (The Broken Water-Jug), adapted by Whitacre.

The first section is a cappella

A cappella

A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

, with strikingly dissonant but beautiful tone clusters. The composer notates long, sustained notes with text to be spoken at random by each individual singer. This creates a very disorienting and interesting effect, when executed well. After the initial section, there is a chilling baritone solo, followed by the development of a new a cappella theme. This continues until a speaking solo (unusual in choral music) backgrounded by music. The choir continues, a cappella, building up to a striking section where the choir literally builds chords up from the bass (similar to arpeggio

Arpeggio

An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...

 on a piano).

A few pages later, a new section, titled "The Cloudburst", begins. It starts with handbells (which have been hidden from the audience) being struck as notated for two bars, then at random, and the choir crescendos into an aleatoric

Aleatoric music

Aleatoric music is music in which some element of the composition is left to chance, and/or some primary element of a composed work's realization is left to the determination of its performer...

 section, which is signaled by a loud clap of "thunder". During this time, the choir also claps, snaps, and smacks thighs in order to create a rain-drop effect. This combines with the vocal lines to create an effect similar to a thunderstorm. The percussion used in this section is a thunder sheet

Thunder sheet

A thunder sheet is a thin sheet of metal used to produce sound effects for musical or dramatic events. The device may be shaken, causing it to vibrate, or struck with a mallet....

, bass drum

Bass drum

Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...

, the handbells, a suspended cymbal

Suspended cymbal

right|thumb|Classical suspended cymbalA suspended cymbal is any single cymbal played with a stick or beater rather than struck against another cymbal. A common abbreviation used is sus. cym., or sus. cymb. .-History:...

, and wind chimes

Wind Chimes

"Wind Chimes" is a song composed by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks for the American rock band The Beach Boys. The original version of the song was written and recorded for the aborted 1966 album Smile. The band completely re-recorded the song for inclusion on their next album, Smiley Smile...

. The piano also enters during the portion. The storm gradually builds then fades, and the ending of the piece mirrors the beginning section, with expressive arpeggiated runs and block chord

Block chord

A block chord is a chord or voicing built directly below the melody either on the strong beats or to create a four-part harmonized melody line in "locked-hands" rhythmic unison with the melody, as opposed to broken chords...

s on the piano.

Cloudburst was nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award in best Choral Performance.

Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance has been awarded since 1961. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*In 1961 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Choral ...

 A concert band

Concert band

A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, wind ensemble, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family, and percussion instrument family.A...

version, commissioned for the Indiana All-State Band, was made by composer in 2001.