[HPFGU-OTChatter] John Rutter (was: Re: Eb in England--Historical Trust Sites #1

[Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner]

[John's highly amusing anti-Rutter rant snipped]

I just knew instinctively as soon as Rutter was recommended that somebody
was going to burst out with something along these lines.  It's not that I've
heard anyone criticize him before, and it's not that I feel any resentment
of Rutter myself, but something told me that there was something a bit too
perky and popular about his compositions for him to be *quite* respectable
in classical music circles.  Like -- as you mentioned yourself -- Andrew
Lloyd-Webber.

All that being said, I have an album of music by the Cambridge Singers that
contains several Rutter pieces, plus another disc called "Fancies" which is
all Rutter -- both of which I bought voluntarily and still listen to on a
semi-regular basis.  I know exactly what you mean about "All Things Bright
and Beautiful", but for heaven's sake, the *lyrics* are already sentimental
doggerel, so I don't mind the music matching the lyrics.  (I have been known
to warble it around the house myself, without being influenced by either
Valium or Prozac.)  The same thing goes for the "Fancies" album, which is
Rutter arrangements of nursery rhymes and the like.  Nevertheless, it's
probably the one mature and sombre-sounding Rutter piece in my collection --
"Out of the Deep" -- which is my favorite.  You can't go too wrong with the
Psalms, and the arrangement doesn't sound like it'd be too torturous to
sing, either.

I'd never put Rutter on a par with Bach or Debussy -- he is, very clearly, a
popular musician aiming for the lowest common denominator.  But I don't mind
that.  It works for me.

Of course, I have several cassette tapes of Aled Jones singing everything
from "Panis Angelicus" to "Puff the Magic Dragon", and I adored early a-ha,
so I obviously have a high tolerance for soppy, ear-piercing music.  I won't
say that I listen to it while writing my Snapefics, though.  :)
--
Rebecca J. (Anderson) Bohner
rebeccaj at pobox.com
Specializing in Snape, Moody and George at
http://www.sugarquill.com/authors/rjanderson.html