{"id":6343,"date":"2009-12-25T11:00:44","date_gmt":"2009-12-25T16:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/?p=6343"},"modified":"2009-12-25T09:39:38","modified_gmt":"2009-12-25T14:39:38","slug":"the-sweetest-sound-john-rutters-cambridge-singers-breathe-new-life-into-christmass-traditional-carols","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/?p=6343","title":{"rendered":"The Sweetest Sound: John Rutter&#8217;s Cambridge Singers Breathe New Life Into Christmas&#8217;s Traditional Carols."},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-6347\" title=\"la-ghirlandata-1873\" src=\"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/la-ghirlandata-1873-689x1024.jpg\" alt=\"la-ghirlandata-1873\" width=\"500\" height=\"743\" srcset=\"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/la-ghirlandata-1873-689x1024.jpg 689w, http:\/\/harryallen.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/la-ghirlandata-1873-201x300.jpg 201w, http:\/\/harryallen.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/la-ghirlandata-1873.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>La Ghirlandata (1873)<em> by Dante Gabriel Rossetti<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.collegium.co.uk\/content\/Biography\/2\" title=\"John Rutter\"  target=\"_blank\"><img title=\"John Rutter\" src=\"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/johnrutter.jpg\" alt=\"John Rutter\" width=\"200\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>As a composer and arranger of Christmas carols, London-born <a href=\"http:\/\/www.collegium.co.uk\/content\/Biography\/2\"  target=\"_blank\">John Rutter<\/a>, right, works within what is arguably one of the most beloved, and oldest, forms of Western music, with a template laid down during the European Middle Ages.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s to his credit, then, that, whether re-interpreting long-cherished classics, or creating new ones, his works all shine with a lively and audacious sparkle. As sung by his much-beloved Cambridge Singers, favorites such as &#8220;We Wish You a Merry Christmas&#8221; or &#8220;Deck the Halls&#8221; unfold as though they were spirited, new, open-sea sailing anthems. Meanwhile, his own signature works are burnished with the passionate soulfulness of deeply reflected Christian faith and tradition.<\/p>\n<p>I discovered Rutter&#8217;s portfolio when I came upon his own masterpiece, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sjjqP_xtEdE\"  target=\"_blank\">&#8220;What Sweeter Music,&#8221;<\/a> wafting from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=34oJmFVAVFY\"  target=\"_blank\">a Volvo commercial<\/a>, of all places. It is, without question, one of the most profoundly gorgeous pieces of hymnody I have ever heard.<\/p>\n<p>John Rutter is the guest on the last edition, this year, of my WBAI-NY \/ 99.5 FM radio show, NONFICTION, airing this Christmas afternoon, Friday, December 25th, at 2 pm ET. Today&#8217;s is a special, holiday edition of the broadcast that we&#8217;ve aired once a year for about seven years now.<\/p>\n<p>On this show, John will talk about, among other topics, his upbringing; spirituality in music; why he started his own label, Collegium; and the reasons that writing a carol is harder than writing a symphony, all between selections from his 2002 release, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.collegium.co.uk\/product-detail\/Albums\/Collegium\/The+Cambridge+Singers+City+of+London+Sinfonia+John+Rutter+conductor\/The+John+Rutter+Christmas+Album\/cd\/25\"  target=\"_blank\"><em>The John Rutter Christmas Album<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can hear this thoughtful artist&#8217;s ideas by tuning in at 2 pm ET. If you&#8217;re outside of the New York tri-state, check out <a href=\"http:\/\/stream.wbai.org\"  target=\"_blank\">our stream<\/a> on the web. If you miss the live show, dig into <a href=\"http:\/\/archive.wbai.org\/allshows.php\"  target=\"_blank\">our archives<\/a> for up to 90 days after broadcast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>La Ghirlandata (1873) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti As a composer and arranger of Christmas carols, London-born John Rutter, right, works within what is arguably one of the most beloved, and oldest, forms of Western music, with a template laid down during the European Middle Ages. It&#8217;s to his credit, then, that, whether re-interpreting long-cherished classics, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,33,51,3,47,43,58],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6343"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6355,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6343\/revisions\/6355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/harryallen.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}