Camerata Silesia / John Rutter – Requiem - NOSPR

‘The most awarded and best known choral music composer in Britain in the recent years’ – this is how BBC Music Magazine describes John Rutter (b. 1945). Indeed, the popularity enjoyed by this schoolmate of John Tavener’s could be envied by many British composers: for Rutter has composed pieces on special commissions from the royal family and his anthem was part of prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding ceremony. The 1985 Requiem to be performed at NOSPR in its version for solo voices, mixed choir, organ and instrumental ensemble (an orchestra version having been created as well) is certainly one of the most intimate among the composer’s works as it is dedicated to his father in memoriam. Among the works referenced in this piece’s expression and musical language, one could mention Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, the manuscript of which Rutter studied at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in the 80s. The seven-movement piece, intended as ‘a requiem for our times’, uses both the Roman Church’s Latin texts and the author’s selection from The Book of Common Prayer (1662). Requiem is undoubtedly one of the most representative pieces written by Rutter for the human voice, an instrument so particularly close to him. Yet, could it have been different, since, as a teenager, Rutter participated in the first recording of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, conducted by the composer himself?

Duration of the concert: approx. 55 minutes

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