John Rutter (b.1945)

John Rutter studied music at Clare College, Cambridge and first came to notice as a composer and arranger of Christmas carols and other choral pieces during those early years; today his compositions, including such concert-length works as Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, The Gift of Life, and Visions are performed around the world. John edits the Oxford Choral Classics series, and, with Sir David Willcocks, co-edited four volumes of Carols for Choirs. In 1983 he formed his own choir The Cambridge Singers, with whom he has made numerous recordings on the Collegium Records label, and he appears regularly in several countries as a guest conductor and choral ambassador. John holds a Lambeth Doctorate in Music, and was awarded a CBE for services to music in 2007.

"Rutter's Christiana Canticles are a model of pragmatism - touching and serenely beautiful. The upper-voice led Magnificat trips along gracefully, with an appropriately wistful 'He remembering' section, and the double-arched structure of the lower-voice led Nunc dimittis is formally satisfying. The organ part is thoroughly manageable and the choral writing is craftsmanlike in the extreme, only dividing (suitably enough) for the 'and to be the glory' section in the Nunc dimittis." - Jeremy Summerly, Choir & Organ, November/December 2012

"John Rutter's Christiana Canticles were also written for the choir of Christ Church, Christiana Hundred, a professional choir, but Rutter has written a piece that good amateur singers as well as professionals will enjoy. Surprisingly it is his first setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. There is much contrast in the vivid characterization of each verse, and a particularly effective coming to rest on 'as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever'. You can hear a recording of the complete Magnificat on the publisher's website." - James L. Montgomery, Sunday by Sunday, Sept 15