A few years after I composed "Lux Aurumque" I began work on a musical called "Paradise Lost." The central theme of the story is about an angel without wings who longs to fly, and at the climax of the show, the onstage angels sing the word "paradise" over and over - a glorious, cathartic anthem. The song, the big finale in the show, is called "Bliss." When I made the wind symphony transcription of "Lux" in 2005, I decided to replace the existing middle material with fourteen measures of "Bliss." Now the circle is complete: I've taken the wind symphony version and reimagined it as a choral work. I love both versions and can't decide which should be out in the world, so with deep humility and gratitude I offer them both. - Eric Whitacre