Customer Reviews

John Rutter: Requiem

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If you have sung in a choir, then I suppose John Rutter's name won't be new to you. He has composed so many beautiful (hence famous) choral music like All Things Bright and Beautiful, For the Beauty of the Earth and The Lord Bless you and Keep you that make him, I can say, the 20th century master of choral music. With their beautiful tunes and harmony, his pieces are widely sung by school chorus, church choir as well as professional choirs.

Rutter's Requiem is no exception. Just that this time he did even better then before. In the past, his music was sometimes criticized as `pop-like'. But in this work we can feel it, both emotionally and musically, more `deep down' than his pass works. This can be reflected by the serious planned structure of the work. According to the composer, the whole piece resembles an arch-like structure. This is archived through the setting of the mass and also the tunes themselves.

Talking about tune, the tunes and harmony of Rutter's Requiem are absolutely beautiful-which make this piece truly touches people's heart. I can still remember the first time I heard Pie Jesu. That performance was only the simplified version of Rutter's Requiem with an organ+oboe+cello+timpani+flute+chorus combination, but still it made me wept for no reason but simply the music. It really did. It is difficult to describe the mysterious strength of the Rutter's Requiem with words, all I can say is: it is magnificent!

No doubt that Polyphony did a great job in this recording-the control of the choir (esp. the dynamic) is nearly perfect. However, what really makes this recording unique form the others is the choice of the soloists. In this recording they chose Rosa Mannion as the soloist. Personally I know nothing about her, but I have to say she really has a nice strong voice. This makes a somewhat special combination, for the fact that in the rest of Rutter's Requiem's recordings boys or thinner-voice-female soloists were used. With the storng soprano Polyphony's recording can be a fairly new experience to the listeners. I Also recommend the other John Rutter's work included in this recording, especially the beautiful choral work The Lord Bless you and Keep you. Again, it reflects the Rutter's nearly perfect choud using technique.

This album was my introduction to John Rutter (odd to say, since Rutter is not conducting and the voices are not the Cambridge Singers). I have later come to believe that that led me take Rutter seriously as a composer and not just as a peformer/conductor). It is very beautiful. It begins very slowly with a muffled drum and hushed wish for peace that goes into the main line of the Latin Burial Office and moves into a steady and trusting prayer for mercy on the departed. It goes from there into a second movement, this time from the perspective of the departed, the lamentation of the 130th Psalm (Out of the Deep, the language is that of the Anglican Book of common Prayer). It is done a capella with a cello not so much accompanying as a separate mournful voice. And so it goes. Rutter has a great gift for melody. The choir is superb. the highlight of the cd is the Lancelot Andrews piece "Open thou my eyes." The lyric is lovely, the setting glorious and the soloist, brilliant. See if you agree with me that Rutter himself does not do as wellGloria: The Sacred Music of John Rutter