MUSIC
Be Thou My Vision
$7.22
About this product:
I sought a recording of Rutter's beautiful hymn, "Wings of the Morning", after we sang this lovely tune in church and this was the only CD I could find that contained it.
This collection includes many of Rutter's church hymns recorded over a period of 20 years performed by The Cambridge Singers, a group of Brits, that are conducted by the composer. Ergo, these performances must be considered definitive.
Many of Rutter's popular hymns are included here. "O be joyful to the Lord" and "All things bright and beautiful", a popular children's hymn done here by adults, follow "Wings of the morning" on tracks 5-7. Others you may have performed in church represented here are "O clap your hands", "Lord make me an instrument of your peace", "For the beauty of the earth", "Look at the world" and "The Lord bless you and keep you" among the 21 assembled hymns.
While The Cambridge Singers, on their Web site, identify themselves principally as an a capella group, I was pleased when I received this CD to find all the hymns supported by a full orchestra, the esteemed City of London Sinfonia. The renditions are uniformly lovely although some listeners may find the singing a bit on the white side lacking brilliance and individuality. Everything is done in keeping with Rutter's score markings and style.
The recording tends to be a little variable given the 20-plus year difference in performances. The most recent copyright listing is 2003, the same year "Wings of the morning" was published. I don't hear an appreciable difference in that recording than the others but still hear some age in older works.
If you seek a Rutter hymn collection you can't go wrong here. You have wonderful English performers mated to the composer in his more popular works. I'd recommend this without reservation to anyone seeking this collection.
