J. Rutter: O Praise The Lord Of Heaven – Cambridge Singers / Rutter

   in Choir & Organ (Jan, 2014)
What a different direction Rutter took from that of his fellow Highgate scholar John Tavener, and yet put side by side the obvious differences seem precisely that and the similarities of tone and spiritual endeavour (particularly on something like Rutter’s early The Falcon here, written just a year after Tavener’s The Whale) more insistent. Rightly praised as a composer of singable but stretching music, Rutter’s ability as a conductor is less often noted, but he brings together the elements with an authority that composers rarely attain, never losing sight of the trajectory of a piece by overstating the detail. The Cambridge Singers know their man, and he knows them. …