John Butt
John Butt is a prominent English keyboard player and conductor who has focused largely on music of the Baroque period. He is also a pedagogue and widely considered an authority on the music of J.S. Bach and its performance, as well as on German Baroque music in general. He has authored several books on these subjects including Bach Interpretation and Music Education and the Art of Performance in the German Baroque, both issued by Cambridge University Press.
John Butt was born in Solihull, England, in 1960. In 1979 he enrolled at King's College, Cambridge University, where as an undergraduate he attained the post of organ scholar. Among his teachers were Gillian Weir and Peter Hurford. Butt went on to earn a doctorate degree in 1987 from Cambridge, having devoted much study to the music of J.S. Bach. In 1989 he joined the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley, where he also served as university organist. Two years later he assumed additional duties there when he took on directorship of the university's chamber chorus. By the early 1990s Butt's first recordings were appearing on the Harmonia Mundi label, among which were Orlando Gibbons: Tudor Church Music (1993), where he served as organist; and Bach Violin Sonatas (1993), where he partnered violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock on the harpsichord. During this period he also developed a relationship with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and its director, Nicholas McGegan, both in concert and the recording studio.
1997 was a pivotal year for him: he returned to Cambridge University to serve as a lecturer and fellow at King's College. He also founded a mixed choir there, largely for performances and services at the chapel. His concert schedule in England and United States increased that year as well, Butt giving memorable readings of Handel Organ Concertos with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Butt's recordings soon became more frequent and garnered much attention: Kuhnau's Biblical Sonatas (1999) and Bach's Trio Sonatas, BWV 525-30 (2001), for Harmonia Mundi, were both well received, as was his album, Elgar: Complete Works for Organ (2002). Butt has continued his activity as a teacher and performing artist in the new century, and as an author, too: his 2003 book, Playing With History, examines historic performance practices. He became director of Scotland's Dunedin Consort also in 2003, and together they have made acclaimed recordings of Handel's Messiah and Bach's Passions.
© TiVo
Similar artists
-
J.S. Bach: Six Brandenburg Concertos
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 9/09/2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Requiem (Reconstruction of first performance)
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 31/03/2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Messiah (Dublin Version, 1742)
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 1/11/2006
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Magnificat & Christmas Cantata
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 16/10/2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Mass in B Minor (Breitkopf & Härtel Edition, edited by J. Rifkin, 2006)
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 1/05/2010
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Ich habe genug. Cantatas BWV 32, 82 & 106
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 8/10/2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: John Passion, Reconstruction of Bach's Passion Liturgy
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 18/03/2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Acis & Galatea
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 3/11/2008
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Matthew Passion (Final performing Version, c. 1742)
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 10/03/2008
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Ode for St Cecilia's Day
Carolyn Sampson, Dunedin Consort, Ian Bostridge, John Butt, Polish Radio Choir
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 12/10/2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Sonatas for Violin & Harpsichord
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 1/06/2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Four Toccatas & Fugues, Schübler Chorales (John Butt - Organ of Trinity College, Cambridge)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 18/08/2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kuhnau: Keyboard Works
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 4/01/2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Trio Sonatas for Organ (John Butt)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 10/03/1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pachelbel: Hexachordum Apollinis (John Butt)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 12/05/2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Purcell: Complete Organ Works
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 12/05/2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach: Das wohltemperierte Klavier
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 1/11/2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Four toccatas & fugues: Schübler chorales
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 18/08/2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Trio Sonatas for Organ BWV 525-530
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 10/03/1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Handel: Samson (Small Chorus Version)
Classical - Released by Linn Records on 18/10/2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Cabanilles: Obras De Órgano
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 12/05/2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo