Advent Service from St John's: 2 December, 4pm

[Gary Cole]

It's not automatic. I've just never heard anything by him that I like. It's very Classic FM.

Sorry, but although some pieces by Rutter are is undoubtedly better than others, I find it almost all (all that I know, which isn't everything by any means) cringeworthy, including today's "There is a flower", beautifully performed as it was. I found the pieces I've sung in the past (the carols, Requiem, Gloria, probably a few others but quite a limited selection, I admit) of very little interest. What pieces do you find 'good to sing'? I don't really understand his hold on the choral world, except that most of his stuff is easy.

Rutter's Hymn to the Creator of Light, written in 1992 for the dedication of the Howells memorial window in Gloucester Cathedral, is a masterpiece by any standards. Completely unlike the style of the carols, this is an extended and demanding piece for a cappella double choir, and comes as a veritable epiphany to those hearing it for the first time unaware of the composer!

[ardcarp]

Indeed it does. (Yes, really, any unbelievers.) I was searching my faulty memory for the name of the piece.

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W6845_GBAJY9799412&vw=dc

[Mary Chambers]

I must follow that up. I think I did hear a bit of it once.

So, if he can really write good music, why does he allow all that embarrassing stuff to be performed? I know (I think?) he was only a student when he wrote the Shepherd's Pie carol, but he could have withdrawn it.

[DracoM]

No mystery, surely, Mary. He's a professional composer who has found a niche, and while that brings in good, ongoing money, that's given him the chance to write more powerfully and more eclectically, more creatively in other modes than those by which he has become very widely known. He is also an expert choir trainer. I'd be chary about just writing it all off as 'that's just Rutter'. But I accept that much of the stuff local and amateur choirs are asked to sing of his may not fully excite or challenge much. It is, however, accessible, and there is much to be said for that too.

[decantor]

.......It is, however, accessible, and there is much to be said for that too.

Indeed yes. When, in my teaching days, it became generally known each October that the Music Department was planning the school's Nine Ls & Cs, staff and parents would miss no opportunity to request a Rutter piece, any Rutter piece: they would wheadle, cajole, or demand, and the HM himself would make it clear - light-heartedly, of course - that it might be impolitic to ignore such pressure. The kids of the choir, too, were always thrilled to see Rutter on the list, as in their perception he caught the essence of the season. With so many other slots available in the proforma for Britten, Mathias, traditional carols and so on, it would surely have been Scrooge-spirited to climb on a high horse and ride rough-shod over the opportunity to give so much pleasure so easily.

[Wolsey]

Rutter's Hymn to the Creator of Light, written in 1992 for the dedication of the Howells memorial window in Gloucester Cathedral, is a masterpiece by any standards. Completely unlike the style of the carols, this is an extended and demanding piece for a cappella double choir, and comes as a veritable epiphany to those hearing it for the first time unaware of the composer!

Apologies for this continued deviation from the topic-in-hand. A very rough trawl of the OUP catalogue for John Rutter's sacred music for SATB produces about fifty items, so it is a shame that people often base their knowledge of his output on a handful of the oft-sung 'favourites'. Veni, Sancte Spiritus (on YouTube, apparently), Come down, O love divine and I my best-beloved's am (2002) are compelling works, but are best left to proficient choirs.

I conducted his Requiem for choir and orchestra a few years ago. What was crystal clear to the singers and to me in the weeks of rehearsals was that he knows, without doubt, how to write effectively for an amateur chorus, and - above all, the accompaniment helps the choir at practically every single entry. If the sopranos were unsure of their note, it was being played by an instrument (with a distinctive timbre) a beat or two before the entry. Such a compositional and orchestrational skill put Rutter in the choir's good books at the outset.

[Simon]

In addition to the other sensible comments, why should he withdraw anything? I certainly hope he doesn't withdraw the Shepherd's Pipe Carol. I liked it as a child and many kids enjoy it now. Sure, it isn't complicated, it isn't difficult and the melody is a bit twee. So is some of the stuff in Ceremony of Carols. As for Waly, Waly - Oh dear, give me Rutter any day instead of that most banal setting of the most banal tune ever!

[VodkaDilc]

Indeed yes. When, in my teaching days, it became generally known each October that the Music Department was planning the school's Nine Ls & Cs, staff and parents would miss no opportunity to request a Rutter piece, any Rutter piece: they would wheadle, cajole, or demand, and the HM himself would make it clear - light-heartedly, of course - that it might be impolitic to ignore such pressure. The kids of the choir, too, were always thrilled to see Rutter on the list, as in their perception he caught the essence of the season. With so many other slots available in the proforma for Britten, Mathias, traditional carols and so on, it would surely have been Scrooge-spirited to climb on a high horse and ride rough-shod over the opportunity to give so much pleasure so easily.

The plea I used to receive each year when planning the carols was: "Please Sir, no Sir-Bloody-Christèmas this year!" They usually had to put up with it though; I did not operate a democracy!

[Nick Armstrong]

As for Waly, Waly - Oh dear, give me Rutter any day instead of that most banal setting of the most banal tune ever!

Possibly the most jaw-dropping thing I've ever read on this Forum (and it's up against some pretty stiff opposition).

[Simon]

Oh, I hate the thing Caliban. I thought eveybody knew that. Always have done, since I was forced to sing it as a child. The words are even more moronic than the "tune". Not even Bach could have turned it into anything good. Not that he'd have bothered trying...

[Mary Chambers]

In addition to the other sensible comments, why should he withdraw anything? I certainly hope he doesn't withdraw the Shepherd's Pipe Carol. I liked it as a child and many kids enjoy it now. Sure, it isn't complicated, it isn't difficult and the melody is a bit twee. So is some of the stuff in Ceremony of Carols. As for Waly, Waly - Oh dear, give me Rutter any day instead of that most banal setting of the most banal tune ever!

I give up.

[Philip]

It is always a bit of an anti-climax in a similar vein to the Bach following 9 L & Cs from up the road on Christmas Eve. As these pieces are so well known they are stressful for the OS as although not especially difficult must be perfect in execution. In my OS days the "specified voluntary" was always the most nerve-wracking part of these events.

My congregation yesterday morning, most of whom stayed to listen, had the 1st Movement of Marcel Dupré's Symphonie-Passion after the service. Plenty of wellie...

The order of service on the website shows that a second voluntary follows (like it does at Kings on Christmas Eve) - in this case JSB's 'Great' Prelude and Fugue in G (and from memory, I think it is normally a JSB P&F). However, I agree that after a service like this with a full chapel 'Wachet Auf' does feel a little disappointing. I used it for our Advent Carol service yesterday but the attendance was only about 60, so a rather different occasion! Maybe broadcast-wise the length of the piece is a consideration? The OS at SJC shouldn't be overly concerned about execution though, surely, given that they regularly webcast Evensong anyway?

The Dupré voluntary you played is marvellous (and I wish I could - maybe one day - but I daren't buy the score without feeling confident at those prices!); other (seasonal) options would be the third of the 'Nun komm' CPs by JSB (BWV 661) or Andrew Carter's 'Toccata on Veni Emmanuel'.

Alternatively, you could programme something non-seasonal as I have done previously - last year the 'Introduction & Passacaglia' from Rheinberger 8, and before that Vierne's 'Carillon de Westminster' or a Howells Rhapsody. On Saturday night I went to Lichfield for their 'Advent Procession' (darkness to light, antiphons and all) and Martyn Rawles played us out with the Final from Widor 8. I like to hear a big romantic French piece, but that says more about my taste I guess!

Incidentally, I've not listened back to the service (yet).

[Simon]

I give up.

No need to give up, Mary. But one simply hopes that you'd accept that Mr Rutter's repertoire isn't quite as uniformly appalling as your earlier posts may have suggested.

[Alison]

I guess I am a traditionalist but I really do find Wachet Auf a most fitting way to conclude proceedings at St John's.

It's a kind of gentle ease down after the 'climax' of the final hymn. It somehow reminds me that Advent has only just commenced and leads me out of the chapel and into the working week.

[ardcarp]

I guess I am a traditionalist but I really do find Wachet Auf a most fitting way to conclude proceedings at St John's.

It's a kind of gentle ease down after the 'climax' of the final hymn. It somehow reminds me that Advent has only just commenced and leads me out of the chapel and into the working week.

Nicely put, if I may say so.