Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre, pipe organ cover

Описание: [Music starts at 0:22]
In my arrangement, this gorgeously evocative cradle song features the fabulous Clarinet and Clarabella Flute stops of this organ, also the luscious Swell strings at 1:05. Whitacre excels in creating beautiful melody and harmony, accentuated by the occasional harmonic crunch - particularly effective here at 2:59.

This music was inspired by the Rudyard Kipling story, The White Seal, which opens with this beautiful poem:

Oh! Hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us,
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.

Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow,
Oh weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,
Asleep in the arms of the slow swinging seas!

Whitacre is masterful at capturing in music the very essence of this poem. I render the threat of storms and sharks by taking up the volume before finally returning to the original calm tone to depict the seal finally "Asleep in the arms of the slow swinging seas."

Played by Paul Broadhurst on the vintage Father Willis organ of Christ Church, Birkenhead, UK

Recorded 5 July 2025

Thumbnail: A painting by the American artist, Maggie Hurley