The Official Album of The Coronation: The Complete Recording
Album · Classical · 2023
This special album features all of the music performed at the Coronation Service of Charles III, captured in spectacular sound at Westminster Abbey. Beginning with Bach and Bruckner conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the music before the service also features the specially assembled Coronation Orchestra conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano in works by composers such as Holst, Walton, Vaughan Williams and Handel, plus new works by Judith Weir, Sarah Class, Nigel Hess, Iain Farrington and Patrick Doyle.
Two pieces of organ music take us to the fanfare by The State Trumpeters of the Household Calvary before Charles Hubert Parry’s noble anthem, I Was Glad, composed for the Coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, and also heard at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The service then continues, from the Recognition through readings and prayers to the Crowning itself, all interspersed with choral works ancient and modern, many specially commissioned for the occasion. Composers include Paul Mealor, Tarik O’Regan, Roxanna Panufnik, Debbie Wiseman and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
The choral forces, brilliantly led by Westminster Abbey's organist and master of the choristers Andrew Nethsingha, are extraordinary, and include the Choir of Westminster Abbey, the Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, choristers from Truro Cathedral Choir and choristers from the Chapel Choir of Methodist College Belfast. Also appearing are the Monteverdi Choir, the Ascension Choir and the Byzantine Chant Ensemble.
The service concludes with a selection of music including Elgar’s rousing Pomp and Circumstance March No. 4 and works by Parry and Byrd, performed by the Coronation Orchestra and organist Peter Holder.
It's hard to imagine a more moving and fitting ceremony to mark the new monarch—an event to linger long in the memory and a tribute to all the incredible musicians involved.