The Platinum Collection

Great collection but some repeats, check the list if you have other CDs.

This 3-CD set is a bulk reissue of three previously released CDs featuring music by choral luminary John Rutter.Most recent are the 2004 recordings of his American-commissioned Gloria and Magnificat. This is some of Rutter's most tuneful and accessible religious music, but the vocal sound is a little thin and compressed compared with the lushness of other King's College Choir recordings. EMI have added one extra track - tenor Alfie Boe's version of A Gaelic Blessing from his hit album Onward.Up second is a 1998 recording of Rutter's luminous Requiem, complemented by a string of shorter choral works including the crystalline Veni Sancte Spiritus and the Tavener-influenced Hymn To the Creator Of Light. Here the vocal sound is fuller and more vivid than on the first CD: the City of London Sinfonia sounding more in balance with King's College Choir than the larger resources of the CBSO.The third CD is a digital remaster of the classic Carols From Clare, two dozen seasonal favourites in Rutter's arrangements.

Really, if you are a lover of Rutter's music and have decided to buy one collection, there's the choice between this triple CD box set and the single-CD 'Ultimate Collection' that has been heavily plugged on Classic FM. A few of the tracks overlap, but not many. To generalise, this one is 'the large and serious collection' with long, multipart compositions that are liturgical in nature and structure while the 'Ultimate Collection' is full of single short pieces which tend towards the sort you might hum along with while washing up. More of a Greatest Hits package.The twist to this, though, is that this big box contains CD3 which is made up of a wide and interesting range of Rutter's settings of Christmas carols. Buy this one and save buying one of the many separate festive collections for Christmas!I bought the big box for only a little more than the asking price for the solitary 'Ultimate' disc so I figure that this was the best deal - it depends on whether you'd rather have all that easy-to-hum stuff, I think!

This is going to be wonderful at christmas as it is a present for my mumThankyou we thinkhis music is wonderful

He never fails does he? I can only hope that some of his latest compositions will eventually be in print for all of us to enjoy singing. Wonderful arrangements.