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Rutter: Feel the Spirit / Birthday Madrigals / Shearing: Songs and Sonnets From Shakespeare

9/1/2001, 22 Tracks, 1:14:56

Featuring

  • Melanie Marshall
  • John Rutter
  • Malcolm Creese
  • Wayne Marshall
  • Daniel Pailthorpe
  • Cambridge Singers
  • BBC Concert Orchestra
  • George Shearing
  • Sydney Carter
  • Hoagy Carmichael

Did you know?

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Notable Performances

Feel the Spirit, a cycle of spirituals arranged by John Rutter, had its premiere in June 2001 at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Source: Booklet

Album & Artwork

This album features an Anglo-American theme, paying homage to spirituals, madrigals, and American song, as well as to William Shakespeare and George Shearing, a jazz legend.

Source: Booklet

Composition History

The cycle of spirituals, Feel the Spirit, was specifically arranged for mezzo-soprano Melanie Marshall after the composer, John Rutter, heard her solo interpretations of spirituals.

Source: Booklet

Compositional Technique

John Rutter's Birthday Madrigals, a musical tribute to George Shearing, incorporate light jazz influences and elements of the English part-song tradition, despite their Elizabethan-era texts.

Source: Booklet

Composer Biography

George Shearing, a jazz legend and composer of choral music, was born in London but spent much of his working life in America, similar to John Rutter.

Source: Booklet

Composition History

George Shearing's second Shakespeare cycle, Songs and Sonnets, was commissioned by Jeffrey Hunt and his Mostly Madrigal Singers in Illinois and premiered in 1999.

Source: Booklet

Recording & Production

George Shearing, the composer of Songs and Sonnets, supervised the recording session for this album, contributing an "inimitable blend of encouragement and dry humour."

Source: Booklet

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Parry: Jerusalem - The Birds - England - The Glories of Our Blood and State - Te Deum - Magnificat
John Rutter: A Clare College Celebration
©℗ 2001 Collegium