John Rutter — A Gaelic Blessing

John Rutter — A Gaelic Blessing | Schlicker Organ Peace. Light. Space. John Rutter's A Gaelic Blessing is best known in its choral form, but Rutter's own organ version reveals something particularly beautiful about this luminous music. For this recording I chose the Gallery Schlicker at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles—perhaps not the instrument one would immediately associate with Rutter's warm English sound world. But once again, this remarkable instrument can surprise. The registration is built around two distinct planes of color. A clear, glassy voice carries the cantus firmus above a quiet foundation of Swell strings and flutes. The Schlicker's characteristic clarity is still present, but here it serves an entirely different purpose from the contrapuntal music for which such an instrument might more readily be chosen. Here, clarity isn't used to separate counterpoint, but to suspend one color peacefully above another. The result is warm without becoming opaque, luminous without becoming cold—a side of this great Schlicker that I have particularly enjoyed discovering. John Rutter (b. 1945) A Gaelic Blessing Organ Version Gallery Schlicker Organ First Congregational Church of Los Angeles Virtual instrument/sample set: Evensong #JohnRutter #AGaelicBlessing #OrganMusic #Schlicker #PipeOrgan