Great CD to Own and a Great Gift

classical music:

	• The John Rutter Christmas Album Franz Xaver Gruber, Stephen Varcoe, ... Collegium, 2002 average customer review:based on 25 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Oldie But Goodie

I bought this for a friend - mine has been played every year with joy. It's refreshing to step out of the routine songs of Christmas... different from the run-of-the-mill holiday music - and, as always, the arrangements, orchestration and voices are beautiful. Some are great for childrens' voices as well.

As usual, my order was filled promptly and arrived safely.

Good for Chorus Members!

This is an excellent Christmas album! John Rutter is truely a wonderful contemporary composer. As a member of a symphony chorus that sang several Rutter numbers this year, the album was a big help in learning some of his lesser known carols. Thanks!

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Great CD to Own and a Great Gift

John Rutter is very big in the UK and I just had to get his cd to make Christmas official. Then I realised that my US relatives were suffering so I had to send gifts. The CDs were greatly appreciated. Rutter makes Christmas even more enjoyable.

John Rutter Chirstmas music

I LOVE this CD! Rutter's own music and his arrangements of the music of others and of ancient carols, as sung by the Cambridge Choir, is uplifting and joy-full.
The perfect accompaniment to the season.
Highly recommended.

A worthy purchase

Because my extensive CD collection was sadly bereft of any Christmas music I decided to rectify that situation, and this year I purchased the following Christmas CDs:

i) A Classic Christmas
ii) The John Rutter Christmas Album
iii) Nöel - Christmas at Kings
iv) Legends Christmas Collection

If I were to rank this CD amongst those four, I would put it in third place with 'Nöel' being the clear winner.

There is nothing wrong with this CD per se. The renditions are very good and the recording quality, as one would expect of a modern disc, is superb. The only detraction (if there is one), is the content. That is to say, if you are looking for an album of carols you can sing (or hum) along to whilst you prepare your Christmas feast, then you should look elsewhere.

As the title does say, this is JOHN RUTTER'S Christmas Album, i.e. it contains mostly HIS original compositions, recordings and renditions. With the exception of tracks in the 'Christmas Joy' section and 'Epilogue' most of these works will be largely unknown to 99.9% of the population - that however is not necessarily a bad thing, if it is only aural pleasure one is in pursuit of.

One aspect of this CD I did appreciate was the structure of the CD. That is, the six sections into which the progression is clearly and logically arranged.

Overall, a good CD, well recorded and well structured, but not one for your dining-room festive sing-along.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Top of the British Classical Charts for 10 Weeks! Billboard Top Ten Classical Recording - December 2002! This album gathers together most of the carols I have composed over the years, plus a sprinkling of my arrangements of traditional carols, grouped to form a program which narrates, reflects upon, and celebrates the Christmas story. I have always enjoyed carols ever since I first sang them as a member of my school choir, and it was not long before I began to write carols of my own-in fact my first two published compositions were the Nativity Carol and the Shepherd's Pipe Carol. For any musician involved in choral music, Christmas is an especially joyous time, and I am indeed happy that it has played a part in my musical life for so many years- JOHN RUTTER

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