About this Artist

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Editorial Reviews

John Rutter's handpicked Cambridge Singers have lately been more often deployed in his own music, but Rutter originally formed the group to perform monuments of Renaissance sacred music like those heard on this release. The singers, adult and mixed in gender, mostly emerged from the choral groups of prominent English universities and cathedrals, but Rutter has certainly put his own stamp on them. His performances of Renaissance works tend to make them sound like his own music, with a sunny, slightly soprano-heavy sound (there are 12 sopranos and only seven or eight singers on the other voice parts) clear articulation of the texts and the polyphony, and a certain piety. The program here extends forward into the Baroque with Bach and Buxtehude, not with notable success, but many of the Renaissance standards are very appealing. Consider the setting of "O vos omnes" by Carlo Gesualdo (track 8), for which the "O vos omnes" by Victoria (track 13) provides a useful foil. The bright sound of Rutter's singers collides with the work's gloomy chromatic passages to create a sort of chiaroscuro effect. The performances of Palestrina and especially of Josquin's "Ave Maria...virgo serena" are clean and undeniably attractive. If Rutter has a slight tendency to make diverse music sound similar. he is technically faultless, and the engineering by Simon Eadon, working in the Great Hall of University College School in London, is exceptional. Notes, in English only, provide texts and substantial introductions to each piece. James Manheim, All Music Guide

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