Distant Land: The Orchestra Collection

Customer Rating:
Summary: Not to my taste
Comment: I was sorry I purchased this CD. For the most part I like John Rutter's music, but this orchestral collection was not to my taste. If you like 101 Strings or music typically associated with a wait at the doctor's, this is for you. Although there were some exciting passages(Suite Antique being the best of the disc), after reading the glowing reviews here I expected something more than mostly background filler.

Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Comment: I was thoroughly pleased with this purchase. One of the best CD's in my collection. Very soothing to listen to. I was never a great Beatles fan, but listening to this rendition of their works was extemely pleasing.
I highly recomend it.
Dan Barber

Customer Rating:
Summary: An Orchestral Extravaganza
Comment: John Rutter is one of today's leading composers and arrangers of music for chorus and orchestra. Some of his best works are featured in this instrumental album played with a lush flavor. But the highlight is a concerto arrangement of top Beatle's songs played in a symphonic mode featuring two pianos. You have the feel of the great master composers and the fun of listening to an unbelievable transition from rock to classical. Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude, and Can't Buy Me Love sound like they're straight from Carnegie Hall Steinways. A most unusual and beautiful instrumental album.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Exquisite!
Comment: Ever since I heard the Beatles Concerto being used to help raise money on our local NPR station, I had to have Distant Land. Needless to say, I coudn't get the Orlando NPR people to give me any help, wouldn't answer my eMail requests for the source, so it took some searching to add the disc to my collection.
It's like Sterling on Siver.............CTP

Customer Rating:
Summary: Guilty pleasure
Comment: I have sung many of Rutter's choral works and arrangements, but I never knew that he had done orchestral works until I heard the Beatles Concerto on the radio. I had to have this album, and I was not disappointed. Distant Land is inspiring, the other works are very pleasurable, and as an old baby boomer Beatles fan, I just love to sing along with the concerto, even if he did steal shamelessly from Chopin and Rachmaninof for some of the piano interludes. I have searched for a copy of the score, but I can't yet find it.