John Rutter

Review: A collection of John Rutter's anthems, featuring eleven of his best compositions. These selections have been carefully chosen to reflect the breadth and beauty of Rutter's sacred choral music making this collection an invaluable addition to any music library.

Songlist: God Be In My Head, A Prayer Of Saint Patrick, All Things Bright And Beautiful, For The Beauty Of The Earth, I Will Sing With The Spirit, Look At The World, Go Forth Into The World In Peace, A Clare Benediction, The Lord Bless You And Keep You, The Peace Of God, A Choral Amen

7556b | Songbook $12.50 | SATB

Review: This collection of nine of John Rutter's most popular anthems, scored for upper-voices, has been carefully compiled to cover a variety of texts and styles. Embracing both sacred and secular material, the collection provides an eminently useful body of repertoire for upper-voice choirs.

Songlist: A Clare Benediction, A flower remembered, A Gaelic Blessing, All things bright and beautiful, For the beauty of the earth, God be in my head, Look at the world, The Lord bless you and keep you, The Music's Always There With You

2107b | Songbook $10.50 | SSAA

Review: Birthday Madrigals was written at the invitation of Brian Kay, conductor of the Cheltenham Bach Choir, to celebrate the seventy-fifth birthday of the great jazz pianist George Shearing. The first performance was given, in his presence, in Cheltenham Town Hall on June 3, 1995 by the Cheltenham Bach Choir with Neil Swainson (double bass), John Rutter conducting. The seed of the composition was 'It was a lover and his lass,' witten in 1975. The other four movements, their texts also drawn from the madrigal era (hence the work's title), were added in 1995 to make the present choral suite.

Songlist: It Was A Lover And His Lass, Draw On, Sweet Night, Come Live With Me, My True Love Hath My Heart, When Daisies Pied

9354b | Songbook $12.95 | SATB Madrigal Arrangements

Review: Full of joy and tenderness, John Rutter's carols illuminate and celebrate the Christmas story in works of great imagination and variety. This selection of his most popular carols forms an essential collection for all choirs. Includes 10 SATB carols, accompanied and unaccompanied.

Songlist: Angels' Carol, Candlelight Carol, Dormi, Jesu, Love Came Down At Christmas, Mary's Lullaby, Nativity Carol, Shepard's Pipe Carol, Star Carol, There Is A Flower, What Sweeter Music

9353b | Songbook $14.95 | SATB Choral Christmas Arrangements

Review: Featured on the Cambridge Singers' album of the same name, 'Fancies' is an exquisite cycle of choral settings for mixed voices and small orchestra.

Songlist: Tell Me Where Is Fancy Bred, There Is A Garden In Her Face, The Urchins' Dance, Riddle Song, Midnight's Bell, The Bellboy's Song

9357b | Songbook $14.95 | SATB English Choral Arrangements

Review: This choral collection includes settings of children's poems and nursery rhymes for SATB unaccompanied - with some divisi.

Songlist: Monday's Child, The Owl And The Pussy Cat, Windy Nights, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Sing A Song Of Sixpence

9352b | Songbook $15.95 | SATB English Choral Arrangements

Review: In this choral collection we have five settings of traditional songs, arranged by John Rutter for SATBB unaccompanied voices.

Songlist: The Girl I Left Behind Me, O Waly Waly, The British Grenadiers, Golden Slumbers, Dashing Away With The Smoothing Iron

9359b | Songbook $13.95 | SATB English Choral Arrangements

Review: Composed by John Rutter, this vocal score for mixed voices and piano is a brilliant choral piece that your singers and audience members will love. The score comes with choral notation and piano reduction, the text language is Latin, with a total of 44 pages.

Songlist: Allegro Vivace, Andante, Vivace e Ritmico

9360b | Songbook $9.95 | SATB English Choral Arrangements

Review: This excellent choral collection by John Rutter is written for mixed voices and keybord. The nine movements form a single choral work comprising seven pieces previously published separately and two new movements. A broad range of emotions all find their place with rich and varied musical settings. It features solos for soprano and tenor soloists - an excellent addition to your sacred choral program!

Songlist: O Be Joyful In The Lord, I will Lift Up Mine Eyes, Praise The Lord, O My Soul, The Lord Is My Shepard, Cantate Domino, The Lord Is My Light And Salvation, O Clap Your Hands, O How Amiable Are Thy Dwellings, O Praise The Lord Of Heaven

9361b | Songbook $11.95 | SATB English Choral Arrangements

Review: Featured on the Cambridge Singers' album of the same name, 'The Sprig of Thyme' is a beautiful cycle of folk-song settings, each setting giving plenty of opportunity for different voices in your choir the opportunity to shine!

Songlist: The Bold Grenadier, The Keel Row, The Willow Tree, The Sprig Of Thyme, Down By The Sally Gardens, The Cuckoo, I Know Where I'm Going, Willow Song, O Can Ye Sew Cushions, Afton Water, The Miller Of Dee

9362b | Songbook $13.95 | SATB English Choral Arrangements

Review: In this collection we have a cycle of choral settings with words by Campion, Shakespeare, and anon. for SATB (with tenor solo) and small orchestra.

Songlist: Icicles, Winter Nights, Good Ale, Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind, Winter Wakeneth All My Care, Hay Ay

9358b | Songbook $14.95 | SATB English Choral Arrangements

Review: John Rutter conducts the Bach Choir and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in what is surely the finest new recoding of Christmas carols this year. Rutter is a composer, conductor and arranger and he brings all of that to these high holiday gems. Most of the carols are very well known, though in the arrangements of Rutter they sound completely fresh. There are some new carols here - Rutter's own 'Riu Riu Chiu' (the sounds a nightingale makes) and 'The Colours of Christmas' - and some new approaches to old ones. The main factor that makes this such a perfect selection of holiday music is the free intermixing of religious carols with contemporary Christmas songs.

Songlist: Ding Dong! Merrily On High, The Colours Of Christmas, In Dulci Jubilo, What Is This Lovely Fragrance?, Away In A Manger, Hodie Christus Natus Est, Riu Riu Chiu, I Wonder As I Wander, Star Carol, Once In Royal David's City, Silent Night, In The Bleak Midwinter, Gabriel's Message, Fanfare - O Come, All Ye Faithful, O Holy Night, A New Year Carol, Joy To The World, Sleigh Ride, Deck The Hall, The Christmas Song, The Twelve Days Of Christmas, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Fanfare - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

2059c | 1 CD $17.95 Mixed Choir Christmas CDs

Review: The Renowned, 31-strong Cambridge Singers have a present for us: 23 songs of Christmas, many of them written, composed and/or arranged by contemporary composer John Rutter, a giant in the Choral world. "Jesus Child," "There Is A Flower," "Donkey Carol," "Wildwood Carol," "Angels' Carol," "Mary's Lullaby" - Rutter's original music is lovely, and the CS are the group to do it justice. Also fine are all the traditional carols like "I Saw Three Ships" and "Joy to the World." The songs are divided into six sections: Prologue, The Christmas Story, Christmas Night, Christmas Reflections, Christmas Joy and Epilog. Most of the songs are accompanied by the London Sinfonia. The liner notes are extensive and beautiful. A monumental achievement for the Cambridge Singers, a generous, spirited and brilliant Christmas CD!

Songlist: Wexford Carol, The Christmas story - Jesus child, There Is a Flower, Donkey Carol, Wild Wood Carol, Angels' Carol, Nativity Carol, Mary's lullaby, Star Carol, Candlelight Carol, Shepherd's Pipe Carol, Christmas lullaby, Dormi, Jesu, Love Came Down at Christmas, Sans Day Carol, I Wonder as I Wander, What Sweeter Music, Joy to the World, I Saw Three Ships, Deck the Hall, The Very Best Time of Year, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Silent Night

6766c | 1 CD $11.98 Mixed Choir Christmas CDs

Review: The music on "Collection" embraces both Rutter's sacred and a little of his secular work, most of it commissioned by choirs for specific occasions. "Shepherd's Pipe Carol" (1966) is the earliest piece; "Angels' carol" (1988) and "What Sweeter Music," (written in 1988 for the King's College Choir), are lovely carols. "For the Beauty of the Earth" (1980), "All things bright and beautiful" (1983), "Open Thou Mine Eyes" (1980), A choral fanfare," (1989), "A Prayer of St. Patrick," (1983), "O be joyful in the Lord," (1984), and "A Gaelic Blessing" were all commissioned by American Choirs. Two longer and more ambitious festival anthems, "Behold, the tabernacle of God" and the lovely "O praise the Lord of heaven," are favorites. Secular songs "My true love hath my heart" and "Sing a song of sixpence" exist harmoniously with excepts from Rutter's larger works, "Out of the deep," "Pie Jesu" and "The Lord is my shepherd." Rutter's work never fails to touch us, no matter if sung by any number of childrens' choirs, or by a powerful, veteran ensemble like the Cambridge Singers, whose a cappella cuts, "Open Thou Mine Eyes," "My true love hath my heart," "A choral fanfare," "A prayer for St. Patrick," "Mathew, Mark, Luke and John" and "Sing a Song of Sixpence" are standouts. Accompaniment, understated to heavy and dramatic, is provided by the City of London Sinfonia. A remarkable collection of 22 songs by one of the great composers, conducted by the master himself!

Songlist: For The Beauty Of The Earth, The Lord Is My Shepard, All Things Bright And Beautiful, Shepherd's Pipe Carol, The Lord Bless You And Keep You, Open Thou Mine Eyes, My True Love Hath My Heart, Esurients, Gloria Patri, Out Of The Deep, Pie Jesu, What Sweeter Music, A Choral Fanfare, A Prayer Of St. Patrick, O Be Joyful In The Lord, Behold, The Tabernacle Of God, O Praise The Lord Of Heaven, A Gaelic Blessing, Angel's Carol, Matthew, Mark, Luke, And John, Sing A Song Of Sixpence, Go Forth Into The World Of Peace

7993c | 1 CD $15.98 English Choral CDs

Review: Bringing together the voices of adults and children, Rutter's Mass of the Children is scored for mixed choir, soprano and baritone soloists, orchestra, and the irresistible charm of a children's choir. Rutter's skilful writing for these forces together with his sensitive interweaving of both the Latin Mass texts and Thomas Ken's renowned morning and evening hymns for Winchester College, gives the whole work the framework of a complete day, from waking to sleeping. This has resulted in one of his finest and most moving works to date.

Songlist: Mass of the Children, Shadows, Wedding Canticle

8631c | 1 CD $9.95 English Choral CDs

Review: Rutter's Requiem, from 1985, is wildly popular among modern choirs, audiences, and record shoppers. It is offered here in the world premiere recording of its chamber version, making what is considered a concert piece more suitable for liturgical purposes or intimate venues. This, along with many of his other works, has a direct, uncluttered, almost folksy air to it, while hardly ever lapsing into banality. Just when you begin to think, "Ah, I've heard this kind of stuff before", up Rutter comes with some ingenious device or harmonic twist that grabs even the most jaded ear. And he knows how to hold such a comparatively larger-scale composition together, too. This is one of Rutter's finest and most convincing works. It consoles, implores, worships, affirms, reassures, and mystifies-everything that a good requiem is supposed to do. Instrumental accompaniment (single flute, oboe, cello, harp, and timpani, plus percussion) is spare, but expert and tasteful. Rutter has a long and fruitful history with the Clare College Choir, having led them himself in quite a few outstanding recordings. They perform here with their usual depth, sensitivity, technical finesse, and bright, clear sound.

Songlist: Requiem Aeternam Out Of The Deep, Pie Jesu, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, The Lord Is My Shepard, Lux aeterna, Advent Anthem, Anthem, Musicca Dei Donum, Two Blessings

8461c | 1 CD $14.98 Mixed Choir Christmas CDs

Review: Perhaps Britian's very best choir performs the works of perhaps Britian's very best living choral composer. Certainly a wonderful match this pairing makes for a great recording and worthy of every fan's collection. This CD contains a stellar cross-section of Rutter's work. He combines the melodic simplicity of Bach with a distinctly modern sensibility. The combined effect of the music's sheer beauty, the exquisite skill of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, and the magisterial hush of the King's College Chapel make for an ethereal and thoroughly transformative musical experience.

Songlist: Requiem, Veni Sancte Spiritus, What Sweeter Music, Hymn To The Creator Of Light, Cantate Domino, Cantus, Te Deum

8301c | 1 CD $16.98 English Choral CDs

Review: Conductor and composer John Rutter has worked in many facets of music, but is best known for his work in the choral realm. On this recording his work is interpreted by the Nordic Chamber Choir led by Nicol Matt. This dynamic CD shows the stylistic and subject variety found in Rutter's music. The first set of five sacred pieces includes the amazingly beautiful wedding song, "I my Best-Beloved's am," which combines sacred Latin texts with an English love poem, the jubilant "Cantate Domino" and virtuosic "Deck the hall." The set of Birthday Madrigals, written for jazz pianist George Shearing combine madrigal era texts in very jazzy settings, three of them include double-bass. The recording is rounded out with five settings of traditional songs and five childhood lyrics.

Songlist: Five sacred Pieces:, I my Best Beloved's am, Cantate Domino, Musica Dei Donum, Deck the Hall, Hymn to the Creator of Light, Birthday Madrigals:, It was a lover and his lass, Draw on, sweet night, Come live with me, My true love hath my heart, When daisies pied, Five traditional Songs:, The girl I left behind me, O waly, waly, The British Grenadiers, Golden slumbers, Dashing Away With The Smoothing Iron, Five Childhood Lyrics:, Monday's child, The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, Windy nights, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Sing A Song Of Sixpence

7269c | 1 CD $15.98 German Choral Music

Review: Gloria (a concert work, despite the use of a religious text) was commissioned by the Voices of Mel Olson in Omaha, Nebraska, who invited Rutter to direct the first performance in 1974. The words come from the second section (the Hymn of Praise) of the Ordinary of the Mass, which in the liturgy follows the 'Kyrie'. The familiar opening words are those of the angels proclaiming the birth of Jesus, as found in the second chapter of Luke's Gospel. Rutter's setting is based largely on one of the Gregorian chants with which the text is associated. He describes the three movements as 'roughly corresponding to traditional symphonic structure', the mood of the sections being respectively 'exalted, devotional and jubilant by turns'. The use of organ, brass and percussion makes for plenty of Waltonian punch in the outer movements and yet also for a hauntingly ethereal middle section. 'Delicious performances of Rutter's wonderfully approachable and finely crafted vocal writing. The sound, too, is outstanding' (Gramophone)

Songlist: Gloria I : Allegro vivace, Gloria II : Andante, Gloria III : Vivace e ritmico, Come down, O Love divine, Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace, To everything there is a season, I my Best-Beloved's am, Praise the Lord, O my soul, I Will Sing With The Spirit, As the bridegroom to his chosen, A Clare Benediction, The Lord is my light and my salvation, Go forth into the world, Thy perfect love, Te Deum

7989c | 1 CD $17.98 English Choral CDs

Review: The performances are uniformly excellent; Stephen Layton and his Polyphony vocal ensemble have shown a previous affinity for Rutter's work and this effort simply reaffirms their commitment to and love for this very special music. With the first notes of the joyous "Shepherd's Pipe Carol," we know that Christmas is coming and John Rutter is the man when it comes to Christmas music! And on "Music," we have 22 of Rutter's finest carols, lullabyes and other Christmas songs, sung by talented mixed ensemble Polyphony, conducted by Stephen Layton and accompanied on most tunes by the City of London Sinfonia. Favorites are the wistful, unaccompanied "There is a Flower," "Sans Day Carol," "I wonder as I wander," the lilting, joyful "Jesus Child," "The very best time of year," "Angel Tidings," "Christmas Lullabye," the exciting "Star Carol," "Carol of the Children," "Mary's Lullabye," "Angels' Carol" and the final cut, "Donkey Carol." A very special Christmas collection, sure to become some of your family's favorite music of the season! Beautiful, extensive liner notes, with a wonderful painting of the Three Wise Men on the cover. Outstanding.

Songlist: Shepherd's Pipe Carol, Nativity Carol, There is a Flower, Sans Day Carol, What Sweeter Music, I wonder as I wander, Jesus Child, Wild Wood Carol, The Very Best Time of Year, Away in a Manger, Angel Tidings, Christmas Lullaby, Dormi Jesu, Love came down at Christmas, Star Carol, Carol of the Children, Mary's Lullaby, Silent Night, Angels' Carol, Candlelight Carol, Second Amen, Donkey Carol

7992c | 1 CD $17.98 Mixed Choir Christmas CDs

Review: John Rutter composed his Requiem in 1985. The work follows the precedents of Brahms and Faure in using carefully selected texts in place of much of the standard Missa Pro defunctis sequence. The resulting composition has an arch-like formal structure within which is contained some of Rutter's most haunting (and, in the case of 'The Lord is my shepherd', well known) choral music to date. Also included are two items from the Birthday madrigals collection composed in honour of the jazz pianist George Shearing, and eight further sacred works. The double-choir Hymn to the Creator of Light is a wonderful composition, far removed from the romantic style with which Rutter has sometimes been associated; 'A disc to delight all those who admire Rutter's choral writing. Full of delights and with something for everyone. Certainly a must!' (Organists' Review)

Songlist: Requiem, Requiem aeternam, Out of the deep, Pie Jesu with ROSA MANNION soprano, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, The Lord is my shepherd, Lux aeterna with ROSA MANNION soprano, Hymn to the Creator of Light, God be in my head, A Gaelic Blessing, Cantate Domino, Open thou mine eyes, A Prayer of Saint Patrick, A Choral Fanfare, Draw on, sweet night, My true love hath my heart, The Lord bless you and keep you

7991c | 1 CD $17.98 English Choral CDs