Rutter, J :: Suite Antique

"John Rutter was born in London in 1945, and received his first musical education as a chorister at Highgate School. He went on to study music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he wrote his first published compositions and conducted his first recording while still a student. His compositional career has embraced both large and small-scale choral works, orchestral and instrumental pieces, a piano concerto, two children’s operas, music for television, and specialist writing for such groups as the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and the King’s Singers.

The Suite Antique was written in 1979 in response to an invitation to write a piece for the Cookham Festival, and was premiered by Duke Dobing and the London Baroque Soloists in Cookham Parish Church. Since Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 was in the program, Rutter decided to write for the same combination of instruments, using the forms and styles of Bach’s day. The Suite was orginally written for flute, harpsichord and strings with six movements ranging from a Bach-like aria to a jazz-influenced waltz. Rutter’s own style comes forth most strongly in the final Rondeau with its characteristically forward-driving rhythms and melodic lines." - Sara Knapp, 2015