Rutter: Distant Land - The Orchestral Collection

I love John Rutter. I have some choral music which he is mostly known for but wanted some orchestral music. There are 19 tracks on this album divided into 5 sections. Distant Land is Dramatic moving heroic. Five Meditations are 5 Lovely orchestrated choral works 4 of which I was familiar with and is a nice alternative listening experience. Suite for Strings are 4 Light orchestrated folk tunes. Suite Antique is a Very Enjoyable 6 part original composition for flute, harpsichord and strings as a tribute to JS Bach's 5th Brandenburg Concerto. The final 3 parts are the Brilliant Beatles Concerto made up of 9 Beatles songs arranged for two pianos and orchestra. These are not just 9 songs played on the piano with orchestra but a well thought out double piano concerto like the Masters (take your pick from Mozart to Beethoven to Rachmaninoff)themselves would have done with 3 movements in typical fast slow fast with theme and development motifs. John Rutter himself is conducting the orchestra so you know this is how the music was intended to sound. BRAVO Maestro!

This has to be one of the most beautiful CDs in the Rutter collection, and I have ordered 5 for friends. Highly recommend!

This is the first John Rutter CD I have purchased, after I heard a selection from the CD played on our local classical station. It was the composition"Distant Land", that was played, and I was entranced by the moving melody. Then the announcer said that this was a composition written for Nelson Mandella, and I felt that somehow I had known that before learning it as a fact. And that, is what one experiences in Rutter's compositions and choral arrangements--a merging of deep feeling with musical genius. The layers of sound need to be experienced. This album includes the marvelous orchestrations of the Beatles songs, which are extraordinary! This has become a favorite CD very quickly! I can't imagine how anyone would not want to add this to their collection!

I bought it for the ancient airs, but really enjoyed Rutter's original scores.

Great music!

I heard excerpts of this CD on the radio. THis prompted me to search for it.The music is outstanding.My girls and i have sung John RUtters songs before. But he lends his own style to these orchestral pieces which are truly wonderful to hear.I am so very pleased and extremely satisfied with this CD. And would recommend it to anyone who enjoys John Rutter's vocal music ,or to any other music lover. It is very enjoyable and easy on the ears. I like to put it on after a hard day at the office to unwind. It is inspiring.

The five meditations and the English folk songs suites are beautiful and are exceptionally pleasant to listen to. However, the last suite: The Beatles songs, are just downright annoying. Some Beatles' songs are very pleasant when done to orchestra but an overly zealous piano player banging away at Eleanor Rigby grates the ears and the nerves.I would purchase this CD however, just for the first two suites. They are some of the most beautiful music you will ever listen to.

It's a little unfair to just say these are instrumental arrangements of Rutter choral works. Some of them are, but they're not straight transcriptions. Rutter reworks the material, making it sound more organically instrumental.I thought the original works were quite beautiful. But the main piece -- and the one I suspect is the most popular -- I didn't care for at all. The Beatles Concerto does have plenty of tunes by the Fab Four. And it does showcase two pianos -- as a double concerto should. But nothing really happens with these elements.The tunes are stirred into a mix, but never really worked with. It's like a cookie batter with clumps of unmelted butter in it (the butter being the tunes). And, for me, there's not much reason for the solo pianos.Usually concertos are designed to showcase the solo instruments in some way; either in technical fireworks or expressiveness at the highest level. I didn't hear the soloists being especially challenged, either technically or musically.

If you're a fan of John Rutter's music this is an absolute must have. However it was issued some twenty years ago so it might be difficult to obtain. I bought this copy as a present having bought it myself back in 2004.

Greaaat

ビートルズの曲が聞きたくで購入しました。とてもきれいな曲が集まっています。クラシックは詳しくないのですが、往復の通勤で聞いていて心地よいアルバムです！

Very beautiful music. The Suite for flute and harpsichord was stunning!

This CD was unavailable through Amazon about 12 months ago and there seemed little prospect of picking up a new (unused) copy there or elsewhere. The other day I came across my "CDs wanted" list and tried again to get this CD through Amazon. I was delighted to find it available again, and I'm even more delighted with this CD, as to both its content and its quality. Of course this is only opinion, but I would rate Rutter as the finest British composer living today, and certainly one whose capability of writing - and arranging - music of exquisite beauty is unparalleled in our time.D A De Saxe