November 23, 2023 at PST
Rutter: Orchestral Carols (Bonus Track Edition)
As this beautifully performed EP amply demonstrates, the musical landscape of Christmas would be quite different without English composer John Rutter. Each of these seven carols, whether a Rutter original or one of his typically thoughtful reworkings, is presented in dream performances by musicians who have this music running through their veins—the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge under its music director Daniel Hyde, alongside the Britten Sinfonia.
Despite making the recording in the breathtaking Chapel of King’s, Hyde decided against using its superlative Harrison & Harrison organ, and to present each piece in Rutter’s own orchestral arrangement. “Dan [Hyde] felt he wanted to do something different,” Rutter tells Apple Music Classical, “but that gave me that extra little tinge of excitement, because my preferred accompaniment medium is orchestra.”
Rutter was just 18 when his “Shepherd’s Pipe Carol” caught the ear of that doyen of former King’s College music directors, the late Sir David Willcocks. Willcocks suggested it be published in the second volume of the hugely popular choir books, Carols for Choirs, and invited Rutter to be part of the editing and arranging team. From there, through dozens more carols and arrangements, Rutter forged a reputation for his melodic gift, instinct for the perfect harmonic treatment, and luscious vocal scoring.
There is, of course, more to Rutter than Christmas, and his non-festive works—including a Requiem, Magnificat, and Gloria—easily outnumber his carols. Rutter doesn’t mind one bit. “There comes a point where you want to say, ‘Hey, folks. I'm active in the other 11 months of the year as well!’,” he says, “but I love being associated with a time of happiness and joy. Christmas music is something that I think has a place in many people’s hearts, and it is of course, the one time of the year where many people who never experienced the sound of a choir, or any sort of a classical musical event, will come to church.
“Composing carols is very much a living art form, and a very versatile one,” continues Rutter. “It can mean anything from Paul McCartney’s song ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ to Judith Weir’s choral work ‘Illuminare, Jerusalem.’ If the two of them were to meet, I think they’d have a lot in common in their feelings about Christmas and what it means.”
Here, John Rutter takes us through each of the festive pieces on Rutter: Orchestral Carols.
Silent Night
“‘Silent Night’ goes to the heart of what the Christmas story is about, right into that stable with the mother and the child. I've learned never to leave it out of a Christmas concert or service without a very good reason, because I think for many people it’s the nearest they get to prayer.
“When you hear my arrangement, you might think of Richard Strauss—I've moved it forward in time a little bit from its early 19th-century origins, and interpreted it in the way that it affects me. I cherish ‘Silent Night’ as one of the treasures of Christmas music—as an arranger you are, in a way, a curator of that treasure.”
All the Stars Looked Down
“This was written in memory of Sir Stephen Cleobury who died in 2019. For many years he was the music director of King’s College Choir, and we still miss him. I thought this would be a lovely opportunity to celebrate Stephen in the way I remember him, which is somebody who was immensely kind and gentle, and not without a dry sense of humor. I think he would probably like to have been remembered in a slow, thoughtful carol rather than a fast, jolly one. The title says it all, that I hope all the stars look down on him wherever he is now. The poem ‘The Christ-Child Lay on Mary’s Lap’ is by G.K. Chesterton.”
Child in a Manger
“‘Morning Has Broken’ is a hymn that a lot of people remember from their primary school years, and it gained currency as a pop song. But it started life as a Celtic folk tune and it’s got a beguiling lilt to it that I’ve always liked. The rising arpeggio at the beginning seems to usher in hope—it has a feeling of openness, which I think is all part of Christmas. ‘Morning Has Broken’ is not a Christmas text, but I thought it was such a nice tune that it deserved to be sung at Christmas time. And here it is with a very simple, woodwind-flavored orchestration.”
Sans Day Carol
“The text to this carol is a version of ‘The Holly and the Ivy,’ and I’ve always thought the tune to be rather delightful. I first remember singing it at Christmas time in my school as a member of the chapel choir, when the carol service was the great high point of our year. When I was arranging it, it seemed to me to invite a woodwind accompaniment, a little bit like my ‘Shepherd’s Pipe Carol’ did. They’re, let’s say, related as distant cousins.”
O Holy Night
“‘O Holy Night,’ originally a duet by Adolphe Adam, was pretty much unknown in the UK until Pavarotti recorded it in 1976. My choral arrangement was already available in print, and immediately all kinds of choirs started to do it, which was quite a surprise to me.”
Blake’s Lullaby
“I wrote ‘Blake’s Lullaby’ in 2021 to William Blake’s poem ‘A Cradle Song.’ It’s one I’ve always loved. There’s a setting by Vaughan Williams in The Oxford Book of Carols, which for me somehow misses the mark. So, I hoped he wouldn’t mind if I had another go at it! The occasion for this piece was the 25th anniversary of Macmillan Cancer Support’s Christmas carol concert in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The original accompaniment was organ—this arrangement is a recent one.”
All Bells in Paradise
“Stephen Cleobury commissioned this carol for the BBC television program Carols From King’s. I had already written two carols for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols: ‘What Sweeter Music’ (1987) and ‘Dormi, Jesu’ (1999). To then have an invitation to write something for the television program, I thought, was quite a hat trick and I was very honored to have been asked.
“I based the words on medieval texts, and so tapped into a rich vein of already available ideas and phrases. Musically, it has got a slightly bell-like contour to the melody, which is appropriate because my wife JoAnne is a bell ringer.”
7 Tracks
