Reflections Steven Osborne, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Sir John Rutter

• John Rutter (b. 1945): Celebration Overture:
• 1 Rutter: Celebration Overture 05:38
• Reflections:
• 2 Rutter: Reflections: I. Prelude – II. Toccata 09:42
• 3 Rutter: Reflections: III. Interlude 09:53
• 4 Rutter: Reflections: IV. Finale alla burlesca 05:54
• 4 Miniatures for Orchestra:
• 5 Rutter: 4 Miniatures for Orchestra: No. 1, Introduction – No. 2, Chanson Triste 03:39
• 6 Rutter: 4 Miniatures for Orchestra: No. 3, Lullaby 03:08
• 7 Rutter: 4 Miniatures for Orchestra: No. 4, Dance to Your Daddy 02:30
• Cityscapes:
• 8 Rutter: Cityscapes: I. Big Apple 08:13
• 9 Rutter: Cityscapes: II. Lost City 07:03
• 10 Rutter: Cityscapes: III. Flower of Cities All 08:10
• Elegy:
• 11 Rutter: Elegy 06:54
• Total Runtime 01:10:44

Info for Reflections

A brand new recording from one of Britain’s most beloved, respected and performed composers, released to commemorate Sir John Rutter’s 80th birthday.

The first purely orchestral album from Rutter in 58 years of recording, featuring highly respected Scottish pianist Steven Osborne.

‘Reflections’ features three works for orchestra – Celebration Overture, Four Miniatures and Cityscapes, coupled with the premiere recording of Rutter’s piano concerto in four movements, titled Reflections, and Elegy, for piano and orchestra.

‘Reflections’ is set to throw new and positive light on the world of British piano concertos, the format of which features in the output of some of the 20th century’s greatest home-grown composers.

“‘Reflections’ is a word rich with different meanings,” writes Rutter. “First, of course, is the idea of mirror images, literal or distorted; second, the less literal reflections of light on rippling water… third, the quiet thoughts of a reflective mind, perhaps nostalgic or tinged with sadness; finally, reflection in the sense of echoes of things past.” Joining Rutter in the recording is renowned British pianist Steven Osborne. Speaking about the experience, Osborne said: “It was a thrill to record John Rutter’s piano concerto Reflections. I grew up loving his choral music, and the concerto has the same virtues I remember from my childhood experience of his work – honesty, characterfulness, a wonderful melodic instinct, and an unselfconscious sense of rightness.”

Originally premiered in 1979 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Reflections has not been performed since – making this recording a long-awaited rediscovery. Rutter describes the work as “a sort of dialogue” between solo piano and orchestra, rather than a virtuosic display, noting: “The medium itself, of solo piano and orchestra, was chosen because of the opportunity it offered for a solo piano and an orchestra to ‘reflect’ each other’s music in a sort of dialogue – which is why, in the piano part, there is very little of the virtuoso writing associated with the Romantic-period concerto.”Each movement explores a different kind of musical reflection. The Toccata was inspired by what Rutter calls: “‘Play of light’ reflections – capricious, darting and unpredictable…”. The Interlude offers a more introspective tone, shaped by “‘Thoughtful’ reflections… calm and almost hypnotic.” Meanwhile, the Prelude and Finale “reflect,” as Rutter writes, “a number of musical styles which acted as points of reference to me in the writing of the piece: the French Impressionist composers, blues, various kinds of jazz and vintage pop, among others.”In addition to the title concerto, the Reflections album includes several other orchestral works by Rutter, most of them recorded for the first time. These include the festive Celebration Overture, the lyrical Four Miniatures for Orchestra, and the vibrant suite Cityscapes, which captures musical impressions of cities around the world. The album closes with Elegy for Piano and Orchestra, featuring Steven Osborne once again in a poignant tribute to memory and loss.

Steven Osborne OBE, piano (tracks 2-4, 11)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Sir John Rutter, conductor

Steven Osborne OBE
is one of Britain’s most treasured musicians with an immense depth of musicality and exceptional refinement of expression across diverse repertoire be it in Beethoven or Messiaen, Schubert or Ravel, Prokofiev or jazz improvisations. His numerous awards include The Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year, two BBC Music Magazine Awards and two Gramophone Awards.

His residences at London’s Wigmore Hall, Antwerp’s deSingel, the Bath International Music Festival, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra are a testament to the respect he commands. Described by The Observer as “always a player in absolute service to the composer”, Steven Osborne’s 32 recordings on Hyperion have won multiple awards. His two 2021 releases, Prokofiev’s War

Sonatas, and French works for piano duet with Paul Lewis, were both shortlisted for a Gramophone Award.

Steven Osborne’s recitals are publicly and critically acclaimed without exception, and his 22/23 programmes revisit his recent recording repertoire of Beethoven and Rachmaninov interspersed with his own improvisations and another of his much-admired composers, Schubert. Osborne has performed at many of the world’s prestigious venues including the Wiener Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Phillharmonie, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Kennedy Center Washington and is a regular guest at both Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall.

Concerto performances take Steven Osborne to major orchestras all over the world including recent visits to the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, Oslo Philharmonic, Danish National Radio, London Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Aspen Music Festival and Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center with repertoire ranging from Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Messiaen through to Tippett, Britten and Julian Anderson who dedicated his 2017 Piano Concerto to Steven. The 22/23 season sees him return to the London Philharmonic Orchestra to perform the Tippett Piano Concerto with Ed Gardner and performances with the Stuttgart Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, West Australian Symphony, Adelaide Symphony and the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Sao Paulo.

Recording plans continue with his 33rd release for Hyperion in autumn 2022, the next instalment in his survey of solo works by Debussy. A label artist since 1998, his recordings have accumulated numerous awards in the UK, France, Germany and the USA including two Gramophone Awards, three Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Awards and a Choc in Classica Magazine in addition to a clutch of Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and Recordings of the Year from The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Times and The Sunday Times. His recordings span a wide range of repertoire including Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy, Ravel, Liszt, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Medtner, Messiaen, Britten, Tippett, Crumb and Feldman.

Steven Osborne won first prize at the prestigious Clara Haskil Competition (1991) and the Naumburg International Competition (1997). Born in Scotland he studied with Richard Beauchamp at St. Mary's Music School in Edinburgh and Renna Kellaway at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. He is Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Patron of the Lammermuir Festival and in 2014 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to music in the 2022 Queen’s New Year Honours.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO)
with Music Director Vasily Petrenko, is on a mission to bring the thrill of live orchestral music to the widest possible audience. The RPO’s musicians believe that music can – and should – be a part of everyone’s life, and they aim to deliver on that belief through every note. Based in London and performing around 200 concerts per year worldwide, the RPO brings the same energy, commitment and excellence to everything it plays, be that the great symphonic repertoire, collaborations with pop stars, or TV, video game and movie soundtracks. Proud of its rich heritage yet always evolving, the RPO is regarded as the world’s most versatile symphony orchestra, reaching a live and online audience of more than 70 million people each year.

Innovation is in the RPO’s genes. Sir Thomas Beecham, who founded the RPO in 1946, was a force of musical nature: an entrepreneur, a wit and a conductor of great integrity, and he believed that great music-making belonged to everyone and that Britain needed an orchestra that was as adaptable as it was brilliant. This vision has remained integral to the RPO’s approach. The RPO was one of the first orchestras to set up a community and education programme, RPO Resound, and the first orchestra to create its own record label, as well as the first to travel to America post-COVID-19.

Throughout its history, the RPO has performed with the world’s most inspiring musicians, including André Previn, Yehudi Menuhin, Yuri Temirkanov and Vladimir Ashkenazy, as well as icons such as Kylie Minogue, Shirley Bassey, Deep Purple, Def Leppard and Rod Stewart. And not just musicians, either. From British movie classics such as The Red Shoes and The Bridge on the River Kwai to the anthem for the UEFA Champions League, the RPO has been part of the soundtrack to millions of lives, sometimes without people knowing it. The Orchestra has continued to embrace advances in digital technology and attracts a growing global audience for its streamed performances, artist interviews, ‘behind-the-scenes’ insights and other digital output. Each year, the RPO’s recorded music is streamed over 50 million times, has 17 million views on YouTube, and the Orchestra welcomes around 200,000 audience members to its live performances.

But live performance has always been at the heart of what the RPO does, and through its thriving artistic partnership with Vasily Petrenko, the RPO has reaffirmed its status as one of the world’s most respected and in-demand orchestras. In London, that means flagship concert series at Cadogan Hall (where the RPO’s residency is 21 years young this season), the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, and the iconic Royal Albert Hall, where the RPO is proud to be Associate Orchestra. The Orchestra is also thrilled to be resident in four areas of the UK, performing at The Hawth in Crawley, Hull City Hall, Northampton’s Royal & Derngate and The Hexagon in Reading.

Recent concert highlights have included performances of all three of Mahler’s epic choral symphonies at the Royal Albert Hall, appearances at the BBC Proms and Edinburgh International Festival, and concerts within leading European festivals, such as the George Enescu, Lucerne, Merano and Grafenegg festivals. Artistic partners have included Joe Hisaishi (RPO Composer-in-Association), Anne-Sophie Mutter, Yunchan Lim, Julia Fisher, Eric Lu, Maxim Vengerov, Roderick Williams OBE and the RPO’s Cadogan Hall Artist-in-Residence Johan Dalene, among many others. During the 2025–26 Season, the Orchestra looks forward to welcoming Ray Chen, Midori, Benjamin Grosvenor, Boris Giltburg, Artist Laureate Sir John Rutter, Associate Conductor Emilia Hoving and Cadogan Hall Conductor-in-Residence Kevin John Edusei. And around the world, the RPO will be flying the flag for the best of British music-making, with tours to Japan and South Korea, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the USA.

The RPO remains true to its pioneering, accessible roots. Now in its fourth decade, the RPO Resound community and education programme continues to thrive as one of the UK’s – and the world’s – most innovative and respected initiatives of its kind. And in 2025, the RPO moves its headquarters to Wembley Park in the London Borough of Brent – the realisation of a long-held ambition to become part of the everyday life of a diverse community and audience that the orchestra is seeking to serve.

Passionate, versatile and uncompromising in its pursuit of musical excellence, and with the patronage of His Majesty King Charles III and the artistic leadership of Vasily Petrenko, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra continues to build on an enviable heritage to scale new heights. The Orchestra looks to the future with a determination to explore, to share and to reaffirm its reputation as an orchestra with a difference: open-minded, forward-thinking and accessible to all. Sir Thomas Beecham would have approved.

John Rutter
is an English composer and conductor, associated mainly with choral music and active internationally for many years. His larger choral works, Gloria, Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, The Gift of Life, and Visions, are widely performed around the world, and many of his shorter pieces such as The Lord bless you and keep you, For the beauty of the earth, Look at the world, and All things bright and beautiful have become ‘standards’. He has composed or arranged many Christmas carols. He established the Collegium record label in 1983 as a vehicle for recordings with his professional chamber choir the Cambridge Singers, and they have made over fifty recordings. He has enjoyed a long association with Clare College, Cambridge – first as student, then Director of Music, later as parent, and recording producer for their renowned choir.

This album contains no booklet.