Rutter: Requiem

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CD Details

• CD Recording
• John Rutter

Music reviews of Rutter: Requiem

Music Review: Lovely from Start to Finish
Rating: 5 Stars

A comparison with the 1986 recording Rutter made with the Cambridge Singers and the London Sinfonia shows that the present performance is more delicate, more serene, and with even clearer diction than the earlier version. The organ fills in much of what was previously played by the orchestra, and it is played sensitively and with suitable restraint here by Nicholas Rimmer, an organ scholar at Clare College, Cambridge. The Clare College choir, unlike other Cambridge college choirs, has female sopranos, not boy trebles. The soprano soloist is Elin Manahan Thomas, and she is superb; in the Lux aeterna she surpasses Rutter's soloist in the ethereal beauty of her final ascending solo line. The playing of the cellist, Sue Dorey, in the 'Out of the Deep' section is eloquent.

The disc also contains two `Blessings for Choir and Organ' written specifically for Clare College: `Go forth into the world in peace' and `A Clare Benediction,' each achingly beautiful. It is touching to recall that Rutter's son Christopher sang these two pieces during the one year he was a singer in this choir, just before his death in a motor vehicle accident.

Also included are an Advent anthem, `Arise, shine,' set to the words of Isaiah 60, `Come down, O Love divine' set to an English translation of a 13th-century Latin text, and most fittingly, `Musica Dei donum optimi,' (`Music, the gift of the supreme God') which extols the power of music to make `savage souls gentle' and uplift `sad minds,' a transcendently lovely setting for choir and solo flute.

And finally, there are two pieces for organ alone, `Toccata in seven', a lively piece in 7/8 time and unusually, a duet for organ four-hands (and four-feet - talk about a traffic jam!) `Variations on an Easter Theme.'

This disc is lovely from start to finish and is enthusiastically recommended to choristers, organists, choir directors and, most of all, music lovers of all stripes.

Scott Morrison

Description of Rutter: Requiem

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