Rutter: Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace

'Delicious performances of Rutter’s wonderfully approachable and finely crafted vocal writing. The sound, too, is outstanding' (Gramophone)

“This superb disc contains a balanced cross- section of Rutter's sacred choral music, spanning over a quarter century and featuring several first recordings. Rutter's stylistic hallmarks are all here: an unfailing knack to get to the root of the text, exquisitely balanced vocal writing, melting harmonies, intensely sweet turns of phrase, short ecstatic climaxes, but also a willingness to be astringent, and rhythmically powerful. There are nods to pageantry, for example in the conclusion of the Gloria with its Waltonian swagger, some decliously echt Sullivan at the end of the Te Deum and, in I my Best-beloved's am, an occasional vision of the neo-Byzantine soundworld of his fellow Highgate School pupil, John Tavener.
The artistry of the 25 full-bodied voices of Polyphony is beyond reproach, only suffering a deficit in sheer volume when pitted against the full fury of The Wallace Collection. Sumptuously recorded, all the forces involved play to perfection. Greatly enjoyable.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This 60th-birthday tribute brings together a selection of John Rutter's short anthems and folksong arrangements, plus a couple of extracts from his Requiem. Impeccably crafted, they're invariably neatly and effectively composed, and not too difficult for amateur choirs. These performances given under the composer's baton by a choir he founded are faultless and presumably definitive. The sound is warm and lucid.” BBC Music Magazine, October 2005