Maybe it’s too many lumps of sugar for some, but what can I say? I’ve a cotton candy soul. For me, John Rutter’s “Requiem” is the perfect music for autumn.
Rutter, of course, is one of England’s most successful choral composers and conductors. His music is everywhere at Christmastime, a natural melodic gift informing dozens of beloved carols. So it’s hardly surprising that his Requiem is full of good tunes.
The work is dedicated to the memory of his father. I find it a great comfort, especially as it’s performed here by the choir he built, the Cambridge Singers, founded in 1981. I was transported by it when I first heard it on the radio, back in the mid-‘80s, when the work was practically brand new. I am happy to say, I still am.
Rutter is 81 today. Many happy returns!
Rutter’s Heavenly Requiem
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19 responses
Comments
19 responses to “Rutter’s Heavenly Requiem”
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An easy but rewarding sing for us choristers.
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Mark Pinto BTW – I’ve got Suppé’s Requiem on my calendar for November! 🍁🙂
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Classic Ross Amico Excellent! Hope to see you there.
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Faure for elegance, Verdi fir grandeur, Brahms for feeling, Mozart for heaven.
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Paul Anderson But which edition of the Mozart?
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The ome that gets Mozart;s motes right?
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Paul Anderson Sorry, maybe I should have said which completion. I didn’t know if you had a preference, since the work was left incomplete. I myself haven’t pursued the matter closely enough to have a definitive opinion.
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Sir John Rutter’s music is not to my taste, as you might imagine, but, that said, he is an expert craftsman, including orchestration. A former colleague and friend of mine, who taught Rutter in his harmony class at Cambridge once remarked, “John always knew what he was about, and always knew what he wanted to become, and, to his credit, he fully realized his early ambitions.” That is not nothing.
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I think he overreaches with his Gloria — a little too much Belshazzar, and “big” is not really his forte — but it gets programmed a lot, and people seem to love it. I do like his dreamier carols. And the Requiem. And he set a cycle of (mostly) medieval carols for chorus and harp, à la Britten, called Dancing Day, that I also find lovely.
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I have conducted this lovely work on three occasions with three different choirs and sung it once in Wisconsin with Sir David Willcocks conducting. Singers have embraced this music enthusiastically. Thank you for sharing. Peace and Love <3
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Wonderful! Thanks for commenting. As I’m sure you know, Willcocks knew Rutter quite well. That must have been quite an experience to sing the Requiem under him!
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Classic Ross Amico, I sang with Sir David at many of his summer workshops in Wisconsin and New Hampshire, 1988-2010. He was an inspiring mentor. ✨️
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David L. Almond That’s great. As a musical anglophile, I still listen to a number of his recordings with some frequency. He’s instilled in me a desire to hear Vaughan Williams’ “Hodie!”
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It’s a touch saccharine, but lovely all the same (particularly the setting of Psalm 23). It came around the same time as Andrew Rice-Pudding’s Requiem, and I certainly prefer the Rutter.
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Barry Creasy As a radio host, I was always thankful on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s birthday to be able to play a recording of the Pie Jesu and be done with it. But it was also an excellent excuse to share music by his father and a performance by his cellist brother. That oboe solo in Rutter’s Psalm 23 pops into my head often. It’s one of the many touches that makes me want to revisit his Requiem.
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I like Ritter’s Gloria very much. But I think I have a predilection for the grandiloquent and this has come up in other discussions we have had – my preference for the original version of Copland’s 3rd Symphony and for Nielsen’s 5th ahead of his 3rd.
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I thought I liked grandiloquent myself. But maybe I don’t? I also don’t like John Williams’ music for Jurassic Park. I guess there’s bombast, and then there’s BOMBAST. What do I expect for dinosaurs, anyway? Chamber music? There’s plenty of Mahler that I find exhilarating. But as I suggest elsewhere, if I want “Belshazzar’s Feast,” I’ll stick with Walton — an unfair comparison, perhaps (Rutter’s forces are comparatively modest), but then don’t even go there! But you know, I only know the Gloria from the Cambridge Singers recording. The choir has a very distinctive, soft-edged sound, which I find ideal for the Requiem and the carols, but I don’t think can really go “big.” But hey, we have more opportunities to hear the Gloria in live performance than we do Belshazzar, so which composer has the last laugh?
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Classic Ross Amico Ok, so maybe I like some bombast. 🙂
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Mather Pfeiffenberger I concede, bombast does have its place. 😉
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