Labyrinth Walk
Piano Music Vol. 1 (1986-1994)
Bill works with shapes and patterns, correlating musical materials to kinetic sculpture. His music is defined by interlocking, often hypnotic patterns interspersed with passages of intense rhythmic energy, while placing linear content in the foreground.
“Ad emergere, distintiva, è una vena narrativa che si esplica nella studiata interpolazione di incisivi episodi melodici e ritmici, insieme a momenti di sospeso e incantato lirismo.”
(A distinctive narrative that emerges is the interpolation of incisive melodic and rhythmic episodes, together with moments of suspended and enchanted lyricism.)
-Filippo Focosi, Kothodik eZine, October 2017
"… exceptional command of melody and compositional form. The music…stands head and shoulders above others of its ilk…”
– Textura eZine, August 2017 review of I DREAM AWAKE.
"Whitley composes music of integrity and sophistication that’s also disarmingly accessible—not an easy combination to achieve, even if he makes it sound easy…”
Whitley’s music has been performed primarily in Italy, Russia, and in the U.S., by ensembles ranging from Symphony Orchestra to Solo Electric Guitar. Commissions consist of chamber, choral, vocal, and orchestral works. His most recent work, Meditazioni sulla Dharmachakra, was commissioned by Electric Guitar and Piano duo KUBIN in Milan.
His recordings have been reviewed in Fanfare Magazine, American Record Guide, Take Effect Reviews, Aural Awakenings, Review Graveyard, Cinemusical, Infodad, and Midwest Record--and have been broadcast live on Radio Horizon 93.9 (Johannesburg, South Africa), CKUW (Winnepeg), WPRB (Princeton, NJ), WTUL (New Orleans), HRT (Croatia), KALX (Berkeley), WRUV (Burlington), and WMBR (Cambridge).
Bill’s music is recorded on Da Vinci Edition, Navona Records, Ravello Records, and Teal Creek Music and his sacred choral works are published by Trinitas Choral Series.
A Labyrinth Walk is the ancient practice of "Circling to the Center" by walking a labyrinth. Labyrinths have been used for over 4000 years as a tool for clearing and centering the mind. Their basic design is fundamental to nature and many cultures and religious traditions. Some of these piano works where written to evoke a similar experience, most notably, the title track. While "Labyrinth Walk" evokes the contemplative mood of a labyrinth walk, it is also designed like a labyrinth walk: the music moves precisely in recurring patterns towards a center, and returns. Other tracks, such as "Still Life", urge the listener to 'absorb the moment'.