Repertoire
Camille Saint-Saëns: Prelude from Christmas Oratorio, Op. 12 (1858) 3’
John Rutter: The Gift of Life (2015) 40’
John Rutter: I Will Sing with the Spirit (1994) 3’
John Rutter: Look at the World 5’
John Rutter: Joy to the World! 3’
Artists
Barcelona Symphony Band
Coral Cantiga
Coral Sant Jordi
José R. Pascual-Vilaplana, conductor
Program
How does one write a piece of music in celebration of life on earth? What texts should it be based on? When John Rutter composed The Gift of Life in 2015, he only found one historical reference that had any connection with his idea: The Creation by Haydn. As a result, with substantial freedom of form and content, he decided to divide the score into six movements, half based on sacred texts and the other half on his own verses.
PROGRAMThe work as a whole is majestic, described by Rutter as expressing “a kaleidoscope of moods”. The composer dedicated it to Terry Price, a good friend about to retire as Director of Music of a Dallas church whom the parish wished to present with a farewell gift. In the central part, he included Hymn to the Creator of Light, a motet composed in 1992 in memory of the English composer Herbert Howells.
The concert also includes the Prelude to Oratorio de Noël by Saint-Saëns to mark the centenary of the French composer’s death.
