John Rutter: Visions Choristers & Choir of Kings College, Cambridge, Britten Sinfonia, Hannah Perowne & Daniel Hyde

• 1Rutter: Visions: I. Processional and Prelude: Jerusalem the blessed03:04
• 2Rutter: Visions: II. Arise, shine04:18
• 3Rutter: Visions: III. Lament for Jerusalem06:52
• 4Rutter: Visions: IV. Finale. The Holy City06:17
• Total Runtime20:31

Info for John Rutter: Visions

John Rutter's Visions is an unusual—and highly effective—work combining elements of a violin concerto (at times redolent of Vaughan Williams's Lark Ascending) with ethereal boys' voices into an expression of unabashed utopian optimism. This new recording from King's Cambridge could hardly wish for more distinguished performers.

For more than half a millennium, King’s College Chapel has been the home to one of the world’s most loved and renowned choirs. Since its foundation in 1441 by the 19-year-old King Henry VI, choral services in the Chapel, sung by this choir, have been a fundamental part of life in the College. Through the centuries, people from across Cambridge, the UK and, more recently, the world have listened to the Choir at these services. Today, even people who aren’t able to attend services in the Chapel have heard King’s Choir, thanks to its many recordings and broadcasts, and the tours that have taken it to leading international concert venues around the world. Despite its deep roots in musical history, the Choir has always been at the forefront of technological innovation, and records exclusively on its ‘impeccable’ own label.

"Visions" was the result of a most unusual invitation: to write a piece combining solo violin, string ensemble (to which I added a harp), and the boy choristers of the Temple Church choir. The occasion was a concert at the Temple Church in London forming part of the 2016 Menuhin Competition, at which two past winners of that renowned violin competition were to perform. My assigned soloist was the dazzling 19-year-old Canadian violinist Kerson Leong. Having immediately decided to accept, my thoughts soon turned to the historic associations of the Temple Church with the Knights Templar—the church takes its name from the Temple at Jerusalem, and the round shape of its most ancient part is a deliberate echo of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. ‘Jerusalem’ is of course more than the name of a middle-eastern city: it stands as a symbol both of God’s people and of a utopian ideal of heavenly peace and seraphic bliss in store for redeemed humanity.

King's College Choir Cambridge
Britten Sinfonia
Hannah Perowne, violin
Daniel Hyde, conductor

Daniel Hyde
has held the prestigious post of Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge since October 2019. As part of this role Daniel is responsible for one of the world’s most renowned choirs, working with the choristers and scholars of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge.

Born in the UK and schooled as a chorister at Durham Cathedral, he was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists at the age of 17 and won the organ scholarship to King’s College, Cambridge, later taking up the position of Director of Music at Jesus College, Cambridge. In 2009, he became Informator Choristarum at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was also an Associate Professor. In 2016 Daniel moved to the USA where he became Organist and Director of Music at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, New York City.

As a choral and orchestral conductor, Daniel has worked with many leading ensembles including the BBC Singers, the Bach Choir, Britten Sinfonia, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, the Orchestra of St Luke’s and New York Baroque Incorporated.

Daniel’s broad-ranging discography can be found on the Opus Arte, Linn, Naxos, EMI and Priory labels, as well as the King’s College label.

A phenomenal organist, Daniel has performed throughout the world giving recitals. He has appeared at the BBC Proms on numerous occasions, including his solo debut there in 2010, and the First Night of the Proms in 2021.

As an ensemble player he has appeared with Phantasm, the Britten Sinfonia, The Tallis Scholars, Aurora Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, and the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, amongst others.

King's College Choir Cambridge
Founded in the fifteenth century, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is undoubtedly one of the world’s best known choral groups. It owes its existence to King Henry VI who, in founding the College in 1441, envisaged the daily singing of services in his magnificent chapel, one of the jewels of Britain’s cultural and architectural heritage. As the pre-eminent representative of the great British church music tradition, the Choir regards the singing of the daily services as its raison d’être, and these are an important part of the lives of its sixteen choristers, fourteen choral scholars and two organ scholars. The Choir’s worldwide fame and reputation for maintaining the highest musical standards over the course of so many years, enhanced by its many recordings with labels such as Decca and EMI, have led to an extensive international touring schedule and invitations to sing with some of the most distinguished soloists and orchestras in the world, in some of the most prestigious venues.

The boy choristers of King’s are selected at an annual audition, advertised nationally, when they are aged six or seven. A child enters the Choir as a probationer, usually at the age of eight, and receives a generous scholarship from the College to help to pay for his education and for instrumental and singing lessons at King’s College School, which was founded in the 1878 for the choristers, but which now has over 400 boys and girls, aged 4 to 13. After one or two years, he progresses to a full choristership and remains in the Choir until he leaves at the age of 13 to go to secondary school at which he will usually have received a music scholarship. In a gratifying number of instances, a former chorister seeks to return to the Choir five years later as a choral scholar, though this depends on his being able to secure an academic place at the College. The majority of the choral scholars and organ scholars, however, will not have been choristers at King’s and this infusion of musical talent from elsewhere is much welcomed. The young men who sing in King’s College Choir come from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities (as do the boys) and, between them, study many different subjects in Cambridge.

Most of the additional activities take place out of term, to avoid conflict with academic work. It is perfectly possible for choral and organ scholars to achieve high success in University examinations and to engage in other activities, e.g., opera and sport. King’s choral and organ scholars leave Cambridge to go into any number of different careers (including in the last decade everything from teaching, professional photography, journalism, the law, the Foreign Office and Civil Service; there are currently ex-King’s choral scholars working in 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace!). Many, of course, continue with music, and the professional music scene abounds with King’s alumni. These include Sir Andrew Davis, Richard Farnes and Edward Gardner in the conducting world; the late Robert Tear, Gerald Finley, Michael Chance, Mark Padmore, James Gilchrist and Andrew Kennedy in opera and lieder; and Simon Preston, Thomas Trotter, David Briggs and David Goode in the world of organ-playing. Some have made a career as instrumentalists: Joseph Crouch is one of the leading continuo cellists in the early music scene, and some, such as Francis Grier and Bob Chilcott, as composers. Some join leading professional choral ensembles, such as the BBC Singers, The King’s Singers, The Swingle Singers, and the Monteverdi Choir. Those wishing to enter the world of opera often pursue their studies further at music college, and there is a steady stream of King’s choral scholars taking up scholarships at The Royal College, the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall. Former organ scholars can currently be found in the organ lofts and conducting at Westminster Abbey; Westminster Cathedral; St George’s Chapel, Windsor; in Durham, Gloucester, and Norwich Cathedrals; St Albans Abbey; St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney; New College, Oxford; Magdalen College, Oxford; and Trinity College in Cambridge, and the choirs of all the London foundations are well stocked with former members of King’s College Choir.

Britten Sinfonia
In 1992, Britten Sinfonia was established as a bold reimagining of the conventional image of an orchestra. A flexible ensemble comprising the UK’s leading soloists and chamber musicians came together with a unique vision: to collapse the boundaries between old and new music; to collaborate with composers, conductors and guest artists across the arts, focussing on the musicians rather than following the vision of a principal conductor; and to create involving, intelligent music events that both audiences and performers experience with an unusual intensity.

The orchestra is named after Benjamin Britten, in part a homage to its chosen home of the East of England, where Britten’s roots were also strong. But Britten Sinfonia also embodies its namesake’s ethos. Its projects are illuminating and distinctive, characterised by their rich diversity of influences and artistic collaborators; and always underpinned by a commitment to uncompromising quality, whether the orchestra is performing in New York’s Lincoln Center or in Lincolnshire’s Crowland Abbey. Britten Sinfonia musicians are deeply rooted in the communities with which they work, with an underlying philosophy of finding ways to reach even the most excluded individuals and groups.

Today Britten Sinfonia is heralded as one of the world’s leading ensembles and its philosophy of adventure and reinvention has inspired a new movement of emerging chamber groups. It is an Associate Ensemble at London’s Barbican, Resident Orchestra at Saffron Hall in Essex and has residencies in Norwich and Cambridge. It performs an annual chamber music series at London’s Wigmore Hall and appears regularly at major UK festivals including the Aldeburgh, Brighton, Norfolk and Norwich Festivals and the BBC Proms. The orchestra has performed a live broadcast to more than a million people worldwide from the Sistine Chapel, regularly tours internationally including to the US, South America, Asia and extensively in Europe. It is a BBC Radio 3 Broadcast Partner and has award-winning recordings on the Hyperion and Harmonia Mundi labels.

Recent and current collaborators include Keaton Henson, dancer/choreographer Pam Tanowitz and theatre director Ivo van Hove, with commissions from Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry, Shiva Freshareki, Emily Howard, Brad Mehldau and Mark-Anthony Turnage. The orchestra was a commissioning partner in a ground-breaking partnership between minimalist composer Steve Reich and visual artist Gerhard Richter in a new work that was premiered in October 2019.

Outside the concert hall, Britten Sinfonia musicians work on creative and therapeutic projects with pre-school children, teenagers, young carers, people suffering from dementia, life-time prisoners and older people at risk of isolation. The orchestra’s OPUS competition offers unpublished composers the chance to receive a professional commission and unearths new, original and exciting UK compositional talent. Members of Britten Sinfonia Academy, the orchestra’s youth chamber ensemble for talented young performers, have performed in museums, improvised with laptop artists, led family workshops and appeared at Latitude Festival.

This album contains no booklet.