for SATB (with divisions) and piano or chamber orchestra
Rutter's charming piece sets a secular text by the composer that emphasises the significance of music and harmony in an ephemeral world. A simple accompaniment figure in the piano provides the backdrop to alternating unison and polyphonic verses that manage to capture both nostalgia for what was and optimism for what is to come.
John Rutter studied music at Clare College, Cambridge and first came to notice as a composer and arranger of Christmas carols and other choral pieces during those early years; today his compositions, including such concert-length works as Requiem,Magnificat,Mass of the Children,The Gift of Life, and Visionsare performed around the world. John edits the Oxford Choral Classics series,and, with Sir David Willcocks, co-edited four volumes of Carols for Choirs.In 1983 he formed his own choir The Cambridge Singers, with whom he has made numerous recordings on the Collegium Records label, and he appears regularly in several countries as a guest conductor and choral ambassador.John holds a Lambeth Doctorate in Music in 2007 was awarded a CBE for services to music.In September 2023, he received the Ivors Academy Fellowship, and in 2024 he was knighted in the Kings Birthday Honours.
