Today is the 70th birthday of John Rutter. How did that happen? Ah well, none of us are getting any younger.
Rutter, of course, is one of England’s most successful choral composers and conductors. It’s impossible to get through the Christmas season without hearing oodles of his work. The bigger pieces can be a little hit and miss (the “Gloria” gets too close to Walton at times, and “big” is not really Rutter’s forte, if you’ll pardon the inadvertent play on words), but when he hits, as in the lovely “Requiem,” he is well nigh irresistible – at least for someone with a cotton candy soul like myself.
Perhaps his music is not your cup of tea, but the choir he built, the Cambridge Singers (founded in 1981), sounds like nobody else. For better or worse, Like Ormandy’s Philadelphians, they bring their distinctive sound to everything they touch. The soft glow inspires contentment.
As a young man, he collaborated with the legendary Sir David Willcocks on four volumes of the extraordinarily successful “Carols for Choirs” anthology series, now the most widely used source of carols in the British Anglican tradition, and very popular among choral societies. By coincidence, I’ll be honoring Willcocks this Sunday night on “The Lost Chord.” Willcocks died on September 17, at the age of 95. Join me for rarities by Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams at 10 ET, at 89.1 FM or online at wwfm.org.
Happy birthday, John Rutter, and many happy returns.
Selections from John Rutter’s “Requiem” (1985), the perfect music for autumn, with the Cambridge Singers. Accept no substitutes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP7oYnXfyh0&list=PLMUnB4vc6zhWN_q7TidWNIABZaZzOnj9s
By the 2 minute mark, after an ominous opening, you get a pretty good idea of what you’re in for.
