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100 Best Baroque
(more) »rank: 114255from: EMI Classics
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Rutter: Gloria
(more) »rank: 116121from: EMI Classics
: :Born in London in 1945, John Rutter is well known on both sides of the Atlantic for his choral compositions and as founder of the Cambridge Singers. He has regularly conducted at New York's Carnegie Hall; his 'Magnificat' was written for performance there, while his 'Gloria' was commissioned by a conductor in the Midwest. Tonal, accessible, and beautiful, Rutter's works have a distinctly personal style. Their somewhat archaic flavor is due, in part, to his frequently using fourths as building blocks and having the voices move in thirds (male and female alternating and ultimately converging), and also to his persistent displacement of prosodic ...
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Bach: Magnificat, BWV 243
(more) »rank: 147925from: Hanssler Classics
: :Born in London in 1945, John Rutter is well known on both sides of the Atlantic for his choral compositions and as founder of the Cambridge Singers. He has regularly conducted at New York's Carnegie Hall; his 'Magnificat' was written for performance there, while his 'Gloria' was commissioned by a conductor in the Midwest. Tonal, accessible, and beautiful, Rutter's works have a distinctly personal style. Their somewhat archaic flavor is due, in part, to his frequently using fourths as building blocks and having the voices move in thirds (male and female alternating and ultimately converging), and also to his persistent displacement of prosodic ...
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Hallelujah: 35 Great Sacred Choruses
(more) »rank: 91647from: Sparrow
: :Born in London in 1945, John Rutter is well known on both sides of the Atlantic for his choral compositions and as founder of the Cambridge Singers. He has regularly conducted at New York's Carnegie Hall; his 'Magnificat' was written for performance there, while his 'Gloria' was commissioned by a conductor in the Midwest. Tonal, accessible, and beautiful, Rutter's works have a distinctly personal style. Their somewhat archaic flavor is due, in part, to his frequently using fourths as building blocks and having the voices move in thirds (male and female alternating and ultimately converging), and also to his persistent displacement of prosodic ...
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Arvo Pärt: De Profundis
(more) »rank: 81976from: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
: :Marx and Lenin probably would not have appreciated the irony, but after decades of Communist repression of religion, the former Soviet bloc is the source of a profound outpouring of explicitly Christian expression. This is manifested in the music of such composers as Henryk Gorecki, a Pole, and Arvo Pärt, an Estonian. Part, a refugee from serialism, here writes in a quasi-minimalist style that he calls 'tintinnabuli,' a sound that echoes medieval composition. A fan of vocal music ('The human voice is the most perfect instrument of all'), he uses choruses to superb effect. This disc includes some of his best work, including ...
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Candlelight: Seasonal Reflections and Celebrations
(more) »rank: 126135from: Collegium
: :Marx and Lenin probably would not have appreciated the irony, but after decades of Communist repression of religion, the former Soviet bloc is the source of a profound outpouring of explicitly Christian expression. This is manifested in the music of such composers as Henryk Gorecki, a Pole, and Arvo Pärt, an Estonian. Part, a refugee from serialism, here writes in a quasi-minimalist style that he calls 'tintinnabuli,' a sound that echoes medieval composition. A fan of vocal music ('The human voice is the most perfect instrument of all'), he uses choruses to superb effect. This disc includes some of his best work, including ...
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Walton: Choral Music
(more) »rank: 140495from: Naxos
: :St John's English Choral Music series for Naxos (this Walton disc is No. 4) has won golden opinions (and an award or two), but there has been nothing better than this. With Christopher Robinson nearing the end of his reign in charge of this world-renowned choir, there could hardly be a better testament to his work. The likes of 'Drop, drop slow tears' and 'Set me as a seal' are standards for choirs up and down the land, but pieces such as the remarkable 'The Twelve' and 'Where does the uttered music go?' require a particular virtuosity, which is more than evident here. ...
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John Rutter: Magnificat; The Falcon; Two Festival Anthems
(more) »rank: 138629from: Collegium
: :This disc's two large-scale choral works--the Magnificat and The Falcon--show Rutter at his most engaging, thoughtful, and adept. His usual canny sense of tunefulness and rhythmic rightness, flavored with splashes of pop harmony, accomplish his purpose in the Magnificat: to depict Mary's prayer as a celebratory occasion rather than a somber one. The Falcon's image-rich subject matter (the mysteries and symbols of Christianity) and texts, drawn from medieval poetry, the Bible, and Roman liturgy, obviously fired the composer's imagination. Although much of the resulting score--Rutter's first major choral work--draws from the composer's now- familiar bag of melodic/harmonic/rhythmic tools, it is effectively colored with ...
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Vivaldi: Gloria; Bach: Magnificat
(more) »rank: 149860from: Naxos
: :This disc's two large-scale choral works--the Magnificat and The Falcon--show Rutter at his most engaging, thoughtful, and adept. His usual canny sense of tunefulness and rhythmic rightness, flavored with splashes of pop harmony, accomplish his purpose in the Magnificat: to depict Mary's prayer as a celebratory occasion rather than a somber one. The Falcon's image-rich subject matter (the mysteries and symbols of Christianity) and texts, drawn from medieval poetry, the Bible, and Roman liturgy, obviously fired the composer's imagination. Although much of the resulting score--Rutter's first major choral work--draws from the composer's now- familiar bag of melodic/harmonic/rhythmic tools, it is effectively colored with ...
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Tavener: Song for Athene / Svyati
(more) »rank: 84051from: Naxos
: :This disc's two large-scale choral works--the Magnificat and The Falcon--show Rutter at his most engaging, thoughtful, and adept. His usual canny sense of tunefulness and rhythmic rightness, flavored with splashes of pop harmony, accomplish his purpose in the Magnificat: to depict Mary's prayer as a celebratory occasion rather than a somber one. The Falcon's image-rich subject matter (the mysteries and symbols of Christianity) and texts, drawn from medieval poetry, the Bible, and Roman liturgy, obviously fired the composer's imagination. Although much of the resulting score--Rutter's first major choral work--draws from the composer's now- familiar bag of melodic/harmonic/rhythmic tools, it is effectively colored with ...
