Sir John Rutter (b 1945)
A Clare College Celebration
The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge
The Dmitri Ensemble/Graham Ross
rec. 2024, Fairfield Halls, Croydon, UK
Texts included
Harmonia Mundi HMM902764 [67]
It’s entirely fitting that the 80th birthday of Sir John Rutter should be celebrated by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Rutter read music as an undergraduate at the college, starting in 1964; during his time there he also sang in the college choir, I believe. A little later he returned to Clare as the college’s first Director of Music (1975-79), leading what was then Cambridge’s first mixed-voice collegiate choir. He left that post to focus on composition but subsequently he has enjoyed another close association with the choir, acting as producer (and sound engineer) of their recordings, as he has done with this latest CD. Rutter has achieved considerable fame as a composer, mainly of choral music. He does have his detractors who suggest that his music is too easy on the ear and too ‘samey’. I can see why such a judgement might be reached, but it’s unfair; I would defend Rutter on the grounds that his music is always, in my experience, sincere and very well crafted. Furthermore, it is readily attractive both to audiences and performers (especially amateurs). I have sung many pieces by Rutter over the years and while it may sound easy, I’ve rarely encountered one of his pieces that doesn’t contain some challenges to the performers; it requires skill to perform his music successfully. The traits of sincerity, craftsmanship and attractiveness are fully in evidence on this well-planned CD.
A selection of five short individual pieces begins the programme. A Clare Benediction was composed for the Clare College choir, specifically for them to use as the closing item in their programme on a tour of the USA in 1997. Rutter also wrote the words. The melody and harmonies could be described as archetypal Rutter; it’s a gentle blessing, smooth and reassuring. Originally written with organ accompaniment, it’s presented here in the composer’s later orchestration. Ave Maria was written at the request of some friends of Lydia Smallwood (1944-2006). Ms Smallwood was a prominent figure in Cambridge musical life and this piece was requested as an expression of gratitude when she was gravely ill. If she lived to hear this mellifluous little piece, I’m sure it will have brought joy both to her and to the friends who commissioned it. A Gaelic Blessing dates from 1978 but is given here in a later orchestral version. It’s in a similar musical vein to the two pieces I’ve already mentioned. A Ukrainian Prayer was prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It’s the only unaccompanied piece on the disc. Stylistically, the music is a homage to the Orthodox tradition. This is quite a fervent piece, even when the dynamics are soft; I like it. The Lord bless you and keep you is a lovely little anthem, dating from 1978. It’s a piece in which I’ve sung several times, appreciating its sincerity and melodic grace. On this occasion, though, we hear it in a purely orchestral guise; apparently, it is one of five choral pieces which Rutter arranged for orchestra in 2003 at the behest of a record label. The composer says this in his notes: “It could certainly be said that the music loses something without a text, but equally it perhaps gains something: set free from the constraints of a text the listener’s imagination can roam in many directions”. I’m afraid I agree only with the first part of his comment: shorn of words to give the music extra lift, it seems to me that the orchestral version is simply a pleasant tune. When the excellent Clare College choir was on hand to sing the original, albeit oft-recorded version, this seems to me like a missed opportunity.
Bard’s Eye View is a charming set of three Shakespeare songs – the collective title is a pleasing pun. The work was written to be performed by a choir of present and former members of the Clare College choir, with an ensemble of strings and harp, as part of the 2023 celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of the admission of female students for the first time at Clare College. In fact, I’ve discovered that two of the three settings, ‘O mistress mine’ and ‘Sigh no more, ladies’ come from a set of Three Shakespeare Songs (2022) for unaccompanied SATBarB choir, while the middle song, ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’ was newly composed. I don’t believe that Bard’s Eye View, which is charming, has yet been published. The two outer movements are witty and free-spirited – there’s a very pleasing lilt to ‘O mistress mine’ – while ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day’ is winningly melodious.
Next come a pair of Christmas items. With Nativity Carol we go back pretty much to where the Rutter story all began. He tells us in the booklet that this is his earliest surviving competition; he wrote it in his teens and submitted it as an entry in a competition run by the Bach Choir. Though the carol didn’t win, I think I’m right in saying that it first brought Rutter to the attention of Sir David Willcocks. It remains one of the composer’s most popular pieces and, understandably, it’s a fixture in many Christmas carol services and on CDs. It still retains its magic, especially when sung by so accomplished a choir as the Clare College singers with their attentiveness to detail. Christ is the morning star was composed for the 2013 Advent Carol Service at Clare. This is another piece for which Rutter wrote his own words, something at which he’s rather good. This piece is most effectively written and, like everything that Rutter produces, it is founded on appealing melody.
The major offering is The Gift of Life, a seven-movement work which Rutter composed in 2014 to mark the retirement of the director of music at a church in Dallas. This was originally conceived to be sung by a choir of some 100 singers accompanied by a suitably sized orchestra; Rutter has already recorded the original version himself (Collegium COLCD138). Here, it’s presented in a version for a smaller choir; for this, Rutter has reduced the accompanying forces to organ, piano, harp, timpani and percussion. I think that six of the seven movements were newly composed but for the third in the set Rutter went back to a 1992 composition, ‘Hymn to the Creator of Life’. This was written, for unaccompanied choir, to be sung at a special Evensong service at the Three Choirs Festival when a fine stained glass window commemorating Herbert Howells was dedicated in Gloucester Cathedral to mark that composer’s centenary. I was present on that occasion and I still recall the strong impression that the piece made on me. The first half of the piece, after opening in mystery, opens up into light-suffused harmony which seems to me to owe something to the Orthodox tradition. The second half of the piece consists of a slow-moving, solemn chorale decorated by reminiscences of music from the first part of the piece. In 1992 it seemed to me to signal a new departure in Rutter’s music, though I’m not sure he has significantly followed that path in the years since. It’s a most impressive composition – one of his finest, I think – and it was a good move to incorporate it into this larger suite of pieces.
To be honest, the other movements don’t quite match this achievement, though there’s much to admire and enjoy. The first movement, ‘O all ye works of the Lord’ is a setting of the Benedicite. It’s a lively and varied piece which is here performed with lots of energy. I like the way that the famous ‘Old Hundredth’ tune is worked in at the end. The words of ‘The tree of life’ will be familiar to all who know Elizabeth Poston’s Jesus Christ, the apple tree. Here, the words are set to Rutter’s own tune. The music is essentially simple in design and the spare accompaniment, mainly for harp and piano, is an asset. I actually prefer Rutter’s version to the Poston which, by comparison, is much less interesting. Then comes ‘Hymn to the Creator of Life’, which is followed by ‘O Lord, how manifold are thy works’. The words for this are based on Psalm 104. It strikes me as being a very typical Ruiter piece, attractive to hear and, I should imagine, enjoyable to sing. I have to say that the climax of the piece (‘The glorious Majesty of the Lord’) sounds a bit puny in this reduced scoring. The closing pages consist of two stanzas (to words written by Rutter himself?); here, the music has the character of a hymn tune – and a rather good one at that. ‘The gift of each day’ has words by Rutter. It’s a gently broad and lyrical composition, typical of the composer; both the words and the melody to which they are set seem sincere but perhaps tend a bit towards the sentimental. Given that The Gift of Life was written to mark – and, no doubt, celebrate – the retirement of a choral director, you might expect that the final movement would be a big, celebratory offering. Rutter, however, has other ideas. ‘Believe in life’, for which he once again wrote the words, radiates positivity but avoids becoming overblown. Instead, towards the end, the music moves seamlessly and very naturally into a reprise of some words and music from ‘The tree of life’, which takes The Gift of Life to a quiet conclusion. The restraint of this final movement is pleasing and rather touching.
As I said at the start, it’s very fitting that the Clare College Choir should pay this tribute to Sir John Rutter; after all, he has a decades-long attachment to the choir and is an honorary fellow of Clare College. The music has been chosen astutely and includes several first recordings. The choir honours Rutter through top-quality singing. They are accompanied expertly by the Dmitri Ensemble.
Sir John himself has overseen the proceedings as producer and engineer and, as is regularly the case with the series of Clare College recordings that he has overseen, he’s done an excellent job in all respects. It’s a shame that it wasn’t possible to record the programme in the Clare College chapel; that would have been most apt. However, the nature of the programme and the size of the forces involved almost certainly precluded that. The Fairfields Hall in Croydon proved to be a good substitute.
The booklet includes the full sung texts and succinct notes on each piece by the composer. However, the designer of the booklet gets the blackest of marks from me for one thing. Why was it considered a good idea to print Rutter’s notes on each piece in such a miniscule, italicised font, which makes reading them so very difficult? It makes no sense, especially when in each case the text of each piece is printed immediately above in a bolder, larger font. Frankly, it was a perverse decision.
But it would be ungracious to end on a negative note. This is a most enjoyable album, splendidly performed. It’s a fitting 80th birthday tribute to Sir John Rutter.
John Quinn
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Contents
A Clare Benediction (1997)
Ave Maria (2006)
The Lord bless you and keep you (1981) (Five Orchestral Meditations, No 5 (2003))
A Ukrainian Prayer (2022)
A Gaelic Blessing (1978)
Bard’s Eye View (2023)
Nativity Carol (1963)
Christ is the morning star (2013)
The Gift of Life (2014) (version with chamber ensemble)
