The Composer Who Owns Christmas
- 6 years ago
The Composer Who Owns Christmas
“By the standards of Mendelssohn, I was hardly a prodigy,” Mr. Rutter said, “but I’d made the transition from aspiring composer to functioning one.”
He continued: “And all thanks to David Willcocks, who was a great enabler.
“I used to think that was a problem,” Mr. Rutter said, surveying from his kitchen window the absurdly perfect village
he calls “idyllic, if a bit Miss Marple.” He worried that people wouldn’t take his other music seriously.
So when people come up and say, ‘You’re the guy who wrote “What Sweeter Music” or the “Shepherd’s
Pipe Carol,” ’ that’s fine,” he continued, referring to two of his Christmas standards.
So it’s no great surprise that it is also where you can find John Rutter, a composer so identified with Christmas
that he has all but earned a place with the kings and shepherds by the manger.
The Highgate School choir sang on illustrious recordings like the original Benjamin Britten “War Requiem,”
from 1963, which features the young Mr. Rutter as an alto, though you wouldn’t notice him.
Especially in the Christmas music, which is for an inclusive festival where you
leave your fancy good taste at the door if you want to get anything out of it.”
Another common criticism of Mr. Rutter’s work is that it is derivative, declaring without
shame its sources — mostly Britten, Walton, Fauré, but with a touch of Broadway.
“By the standards of Mendelssohn, I was hardly a prodigy,” Mr. Rutter said, “but I’d made the transition from aspiring composer to functioning one.”
He continued: “And all thanks to David Willcocks, who was a great enabler.
“I used to think that was a problem,” Mr. Rutter said, surveying from his kitchen window the absurdly perfect village
he calls “idyllic, if a bit Miss Marple.” He worried that people wouldn’t take his other music seriously.
So when people come up and say, ‘You’re the guy who wrote “What Sweeter Music” or the “Shepherd’s
Pipe Carol,” ’ that’s fine,” he continued, referring to two of his Christmas standards.
So it’s no great surprise that it is also where you can find John Rutter, a composer so identified with Christmas
that he has all but earned a place with the kings and shepherds by the manger.
The Highgate School choir sang on illustrious recordings like the original Benjamin Britten “War Requiem,”
from 1963, which features the young Mr. Rutter as an alto, though you wouldn’t notice him.
Especially in the Christmas music, which is for an inclusive festival where you
leave your fancy good taste at the door if you want to get anything out of it.”
Another common criticism of Mr. Rutter’s work is that it is derivative, declaring without
shame its sources — mostly Britten, Walton, Fauré, but with a touch of Broadway.