Muzic Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 I used to hate John Rutter mostly because I have to sing the same cheesy Christmas chorals by him every year. I used think all his music was way to commercial and cheesy and boring. The community choir I am in is singing the Rutter Requiem, and I really like it. So I am not so sure on what to think about Rutter. Is he a amazing composer? or is he cheesy and commercial? anyways I thought it would make a nice discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tokkemon Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 I think Rutter has moments of both in him. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of his style, but it's a lot more refined than Whitacre, for example. He does have lame Christmas carols, but is larger works are very powerful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dev Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 It's wierd, I know his piece "Hymn to the Creator of Light" which starts off very mysterious and chromatic and interesting and then sort of...devolves into conventional hum-drum choral music. If he could consistantly write music as interesting and creative as the beginning of "Hymn" then he would be a fantastic composer...it just doesn't seem to work out that way, is all. it's a lot more refined than Whitacre, for example. Don't really understand this sentiment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flint Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 It's wierd, I know his piece "Hymn to the Creator of Light" which starts off very mysterious and chromatic and interesting and then sort of...devolves into conventional hum-drum choral music.If he could consistantly write music as interesting and creative as the beginning of "Hymn" then he would be a fantastic composer...it just doesn't seem to work out that way, is all. Most contemporary choral music is dreck, simply because it's usually intended to be sung by non-musicians. This is greatly limiting to the scope and harmonic language a composer can use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzic Posted May 1, 2009 Author Share Posted May 1, 2009 I agree that most choral music is fluff, I do like Whitacre though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicdecomposed Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 It's the fluff that gives the rest of the excellent choral music being produced a bad name. Rutter isn't bad, he just often sinks back on what is easy and predictable. I enjoy moments of his requiem and other works. I think it's his simplicity that people enjoy. I don't agree with Nicola saying that all choral music is subpar, it's just that I think it evolved very differently in the 20th century and now it's in a very different place than other modern classical music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firsty_ferret Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 I've performed all of his suite antiqueand its remarkable the different contrasts he makes in the music... its also amazing how easy it is to interpret to your own unique way of playing it. I must admit what I've heard of the christmas carols are pretty cheesy in parts, but I would really recommend soe of his instrumental music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morivou Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 I guess it was wrong of me to throw all of choral music under the bus, but I think the bar is set much lower. A trend I've found is that with a lot of choral music, the form of development is all the same...it's contour just melds to the words, and that's about it. All you have to do to earn some sort of recognition of quality work in the choral music world is write a cheesy piece with cheesy lyrics and have some professional choir premiere it. It doesn't have to be musical or intelligent. I am constantly amazed at the amount of absolute garbage choral music that gets published every single day. Rutter is held in high regard and so is Whitacre because their music scratches the surface of being actually artistic (and you can pummel me all you want for that statement and pull the whole subjective "who are you to say what is artistic" card, but you know what I mean). But just because they're fantastic in comparison doesn't make them fantastic. I think rutter is on the good side of mediocre and I think Whitacre has "too many notes" :P. The colours he produces become monochromatic after a while. Anyway, I guess that's a clarification of my two cents. A Question, Nico... what is your opinion of the SCOPE of vocal music? Like, ranging from SOLO works to full choral pieces. Back all the way to Renaissance, all the way up to Whitacre-modern. I mean... You cannot comment that choral music has ALWAYS been the same. Are you giving us your opinion on the music of NOW (what it has evolved, or in your case, devolved into?) or the music of yesteryear? Sorry if this is off-topic, BUT, it is relevant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaestroMarvel Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 My orchestra jsut played his Requiem. Its powerful, but cliche for a majority... I started a thread on this subject. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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