Favourites,
Music for the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III
This momentous event, like centuries of British coronations before it, is an opportunity for pageantry and magnificence, and the service will draw both on time-honoured musical favourites such as Handel's Zadok the Priest and Parry's I was glad, and on contemporary composers and artists such as Tarik O'Regan and Roxanna Panufnik. We've put together a small collection of existing recordings reflecting the best of the old and the new.
Update: a recording of the entire ceremony and pre-service music from Decca is now available to stream or download, with a 2-CD set of the ceremony itself due for release on 25th May.
Royal & Ceremonial Music
Paul McCreesh and Gabrieli provide a kind of "composite reenactment" of the last four British coronations - complete with the spoken liturgy and readings. Until today, this was the closest many of us could get to witnessing a coronation in real life, and the combination of McCreesh's research and the absolute commitment of his massed forces is magnificent. McCreesh's rendition of the ever-popular I was glad is enough to make the spine tingle of even the most jaded choral singer.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A gesture of trans-Manche friendship from France, freighted with the heritage of amity, enmity and everything in between that has united the two countries over the centuries. The Chœur et Orchestre de l'Opéra Royal under Gaétan Jarry present a Coronation extravaganza, pairing Handel's four Coronation Anthems with two large-scale ceremonial choral works by Henry Purcell.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
A different Handel pedigree - the "friend and generous guest" of Blunden's Ode here performed by musicians from his homeland, in the form of the RIAS Kammerchor and Akadamie für Alte Musik Berlin. Also included are the Occasional Oratorio overture, an extended anthem by Croft, and a stately chaconne by Blow.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Among the gems on this survey of Elgar's fruitful relationship with the military band are the Severn Suite, arrangements of two less often-heard Pomp and Circumstance marches, transcriptions of Bach chorales, and a reconstruction of the original version of With Proud Thanksgiving. The Sea Songs and Toccata Marziale of his contemporary Vaughan Williams also feature.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Composers commissioned for the Coronation
Perhaps best known for his Ubi caritas, performed at the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton in 2011, Paul Mealor draws on the choral tradition of his native Wales in his music, much of which is for voices. His Selwyn Canticles (featured on this recording) put a pensive, at times even melancholy, spin on the age-old texts of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, while his Coronation Kyrie, to be sung by Bryn Terfel later today, will be the first use of the Welsh language at a British Coronation.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A unique combination of musical influences come together to create Tarik O'Regan's immediately recognisable sound - drawing on the Irish and Algerian ancestry of the two sides of his family, as well as Renaissance polyphony and minimalism. His Sequence for St Wulfstan leans towards the introspective and wispy, while his four mixed-voice settings (in particular the first, Gratias tibi) frequently have a madrigalian liveliness and clarity about them. His Dorchester Canticles were rightly described by BBC Music Magazine as "marvellous, ebullient stuff".
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Drawing on Roxanna Panufnik's lifelong interest in world musics, 'Celestial Bird', in collaboration with Indian arts organisation Milapfest, incorporates musical and textual inspirations from the Indian subcontinent - as well as Panufnik's trademark harmonic language in all its vivid richness. The closing work, Child of Heaven, setting a Hymn to Dawn from the Rig Veda, is a true a cappella tour de force.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Where many ensembles and musicians choose to make their debuts with safe, well-trodden repertoire, the Old Royal Naval College Trinity Laban Chapel Choir devote their first recording to the choral music of Roderick Williams - acclaimed as a singer but increasingly also recognised for his talents as a composer. His evocative, harmonically luxurious polychoral setting of the Advent Antiphon O Adonai is fast becoming a favourite of ambitious choirs in their festive programming.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Conceived as a birthday tribute to Queen Elizabeth II on her 95th birthday in 2021, this album traces the story of England and the United Kingdom through musical portraits of twelve past monarchs - beginning with William the Conqueror in 1066 and ending with the King's mother herself. Interspersed are readings by Damian Lewis and Helen Mirren.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Ranging from rousing marches and festival overtures performed by the Central Band of the Royal Air Force and BBC Concert Orchestra to sacred settings sung by the BBC Singers, this collection shows that Nigel Hess's talents certainly don't end with his numerous award-winning screen soundtracks. The sparkling set of variations on Bach's ever-popular Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, performed by Piers Lane, is a particular highlight.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Encompassing a range of idioms from the deceptively simple (the mantra-like My Guardian Angel) to the intricate and sprightly (Illuminare, Jerusalem), Judith Weir's style of choral music has been in constant flux since her first commission for these forces in 1983; the addition of a trombone to her setting of Psalm 148 instantly establishes a ceremonial mood, while the marimba in little tree perfectly accentuates the childlike optimism of e e cummings's texts.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
Soloists performing at the Coronation
Inspired not merely by the dreams and imaginings of operatic heroines from Juliette to Lucia di Lammermoor but also by Yende's own "Cinderella story" and "dream-come-true" career, 'Dreams' includes arias by Donizetti, Bellini, Meyerbeer and more.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A double-CD calling-card for perhaps the world's favourite bass-baritone - from folk-songs and spirituals to Lieder, from show-tunes to Welsh hymnody, from oratorios to heroic opera roles, Terfel's artistry bestrides a multitude of genres. Ireland's Sea Fever has never sounded so deeply-felt, stirring and sincere - and even numbers like Guide me, O thou great Redeemer, that would seem to cry out for massed voices from the valleys, gain a new life as solo items when Terfel sings them.
Available Formats: 2 Presto CDs, MP3, FLAC
George Butterworth's death on the Somme in 1916 cut short not merely a young life but a promising musical career; the prescience of some of his songs, setting Hausman's haunting references to "the lads that will die in their glory and never be old" and the conversation between a dead man and his still-living friend, is nothing short of eerie. Roderick Williams's understanding of, and sensitivity to, English song is simply without equal.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC
David Smith - Head of Digital
