Interview with a Music Immortal

As contributor to my school magazine, I recently reached out to one of the greatest composers of choral works—John Rutter CBE. Having sung his music and listened to many of his beautiful compositions, it felt surreal getting in touch. He seemed so high up on that pedestal!

When I messaged him through a generic email account, I was skeptical about getting a reply, but within hours, the words “happy to respond to your questions” flew back. This is the generosity of John Rutter. Brilliant yet unaffected, modest and straightforward, he is, in my definition, a true music immortal.

The article…

The Changing World of Classical Music: An interview with John Rutter CBE

Plato, in his writings on music, asserts that “rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul” (The Republic, Book 3). To this day, despite the passage of time and evolving perceptions and attitudes, this enlightened statement continues to hold true. In the wake of our changing world, music continues to reach our soul, to be integral in every known society and common to all cultures. It has persisted through wars, social unrest, economic crises and now, a global pandemic.

In the past year, COVID-19 has created great uncertainty for those in the world of classical music. Concert halls that were once filled with the expressive and harmonious sounds of choirs, operas and orchestras have been left abandoned and silent. Conductors and musicians have been faced with cancelled performances, festivals and tours. And yet, the music-making continues.

John Rutter CBE, world-renowned English composer, conductor, music producer and Highgate School alumnus, discusses the ways in which creativity and innovation have transformed classical music, sharing his perspective on how it has transcended through time to meet the challenges ahead.

Over the past decade, music across all genres has undergone significant changes. In a short space of time, recorded music has moved from CDs and radio to streaming, YouTube and social media. Live performances, masterclasses and music education have all evolved.

Throughout your long and distinguished career, what do you believe have been the most significant changes to the classical genre?

Both the presentation and the programming of classical music have become much more imaginative. When I was first attending concerts as a teenager, the repertoire was narrower, and audiences were happy with stodgy performances of tried-and-tested favourites - the preferred concert formula was Overture - Concerto - Symphony. The broadening of repertoire was spearheaded by the BBC in the 1960s under William Glock, expanding the repertoire both backwards into the Middle Ages, forwards into the most uncompromising of contemporary music, and outwards to embrace what is now known as 'world music'. Added to this was the period-instrument revolution in the 1970s where we began to hear music of the Baroque and Classical periods played on the sort of instruments the composers would have recognised, in a style which attempted to re-create their sound world. Then in the 1980s came compact discs, which led to a flood of recordings of previously unknown music and sometimes revelatory performances of familiar repertoire re-imagined.

All of this has been immensely enriching to classical audiences and performers alike. The downside is that what we now call 'classical music' has become marginalised in an increasingly pop-dominated culture, mainly because the teaching of the classics in many schools (not just in music) has been largely abandoned, with the result that many young people leave school never having heard or performed a note of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, or any other canonic classical repertoire. When I was growing up, there was 'music' and there was 'pop music', the latter slightly looked down upon (and never reviewed in the quality press) until the Beatles and their contemporaries made pop music into a universal phenomenon. Now, we have 'music' and somewhere on the fringes, 'classical music' . . . the centre of gravity has shifted. Would you say the changes have been, on the whole, positive or negative? Have they provided more opportunities or challenges? Please can you explain why?

There are probably more opportunities for both composers and performers now than when I started. They can find and reach their audiences via websites, social media, YouTube and so on - all unknown in my early years. Despite the marginalisation of classical culture, there are also more arts events going on than ever. However, Brexit is going to have a terribly harmful effect on the careers of performing musicians - the host of touring opportunities that opened up when Britain joined the EU in 1973 has come to an end unless visa-free travel for professional musicians can be reinstated. UK musicians have been earning a substantial proportion of their livelihoods in continental Europe. How have these changes affected you and your work personally?

As a composer, I have just carried on. If you are never exactly in fashion, that means, happily, that you can't go out of fashion. I'm glad to say there has always been a demand for what I write. As a conductor, I benefited hugely from the advent of CDs because it made it commercially possible to start my own niche record label as a vehicle for my professional chamber choir the Cambridge Singers, which was one of the first in what is now a burgeoning professional choral sector.

Do you think social movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter (or any others) have had a significant influence on the performing arts in recent years? If so, how?

#MeToo has helped to draw attention to the whole neglected area of music by women composers, Black Lives Matter has done something of the same for black composers - two immensely welcome developments.

In what ways (both positive and negative) do you think the Covid pandemic has affect classical and choral music?

There have been some positive effects, mainly that performers have found new ways of connecting with their audiences online, plus the phenomenon of virtual choirs has made it possible for established choral singers to keep connected and for new choral singers to be part of a choir for the first time. I'm thinking of people too shy to audition, or perhaps physically unable to get to normal choir practices because of domestic circumstances or living in remote areas. But I'm afraid it's been a fairly calamitous year for the whole musical world. Amateurs unable to participate in group music-making have lost an often passionately loved pursuit and the social contact it brings; professionals have lost all of that plus their livelihoods. When the pandemic comes to an end, we will probably be looking out over a shrunken and cash-starved musical profession. We have to bank on the natural resourcefulness of musicians and their powers of recovery.

Finally, are there any trends that you would like to see develop or to just quickly die off? Please can you explain why?

I think virtual choirs are here to stay, for the reasons given above, though inevitably there won't be such a massive demand for them once in-the-flesh choirs can get back together again. I quite like the idea of pop-up concerts as an entry-level experience for those who would never think of visiting a concert hall, they probably have a continuing part to play. Opera is an immersive experience, and expensive to put on, but if there's a continuing market for drive-in performances, that may serve as a tempting bait to explore it further. A lesson all arts administrators have learned in the last few years is that you can't just wait for your audiences to find you, you have to go out and find them.