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Track 7 with scrolling text
Critical response to ILLUMINATIONS
‘like Leonard Bernstein, [Cacioppo is] another American composer of controlled eclecticism’
‘a composer with such a fertile musical imagination, given to a kind of Whitman-like inclusiveness’
‘potency…wealth of wit and invention…spectacularly clever’
‘potent…thought-provoking poetics’
‘The performances are gripping and compelling.’
‘an intense listening experience’
and to the sonic mural “(I, MADLY STRUGGLING, CRY)” – Track 7
‘a majestic setting of Whitman’s poem in praise of the broad heterogeneity and equanimity of the United States of America.’
‘a captivating sonic mural’
‘This composition awakens in our minds the political debate raging in the nation today, but transformed in more positive terms.’
‘a powerful work… It invites readings of expressive opposition to Trumpian attitudes.’
‘This work is an affirmation why many of our ancestors along with some of our neighbors and friends came to the United States, and why others also seek to immigrate.’
‘In its passion and intensity of thought and feeling alike, this work synthesizes, very powerfully, words and music, ideals and fears, past and present.’
Sources: MusicWeb International, American Record Guide, Cherry Grove Reviews, The Georgetowner