Rutter

John Milford Rutter, CBE (b. 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer whose career is an interesting case study in the Sacred Music ‘style wars’ of the late 20th century. His success – he is the only sacred composer alive to have made a genuine fortune from his work – is the result of having perched himself right in the middle of the ‘classical – pop’ spectrum and having never wavered too far in either direction.

After excellent early training in the estimable British music education system of the 1950’s [his early work with Sir David Willcocks on the ‘Carols for Choirs’ series at Oxford University Press is exemplary], he came on the American scene, with a bang, in 1974 with the Omaha premiere of his setting of the ‘Gloria,’ an ingenious hybrid of late romantic and popular compositional styles.

Since then, Rutter has found every means possible to market and commercialize his work, arranging every piece for different voicings and different accompanimental textures, etc… His music is ubiquitous, especially at Christmastime.

I prefer to steer clear of the discussion and value judgment of whether or not Rutter qualifies as a ‘serious’ composer and instead celebrate those of his pieces that I find to be excellent. With every composer in every age there are good, average and not so good pieces – and it’s never going to be any different. It’s our job as consumers of this literature to be discerning and descriptive about what we hear…!

Composition aside, John is a truly fine conductor. His array of self-produced recordings [with the Cambridge Singers – a professional chamber choir] are superb and worth a listen. His label is called ‘Collegium Records.’ Look for these on Amazon, or wherever you buy music.

We are pleased that Alecia Lawyer, the force behind the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra is here to play the oboe – on the Rutter anthem and to offer movements from the Marcello concerto. Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) was a Venetian nobleman and a younger contemporary of Vivaldi – you will hear the stylistic similarities…

-Keith Weber