Music for the Coronation

[Nick Armstrong]

I have been looking for the Decca streaming/download release which was anticipated in many media outlets at 6pm yesterday. Can't find it anywhere and nothing on Spotify. The only CIIIR/Camilla coronation 2023 item seems to be an inane mixtape-type playlist.

Did you see this post above?

Decca have produced a CD already:

https://coronation.decca.com/product...arious-artists

Not released until a week tomorrow, however…

[Old Grumpy]

Yes, I've already posted about it a couple of times up thread...

...the CD is promised for 15th May - with a vinyl to follow later on (apparently HMK just lurvs vinyls).

Also promised, however was a full 4 hour download available 6pm on 6th May ( with release to streaming platforms at the same time). Must admit I'm not too bothered about the download/stream, but may consider getting the CD - which I understand is just the music, but none of the speech components.

[smittims]

Yesterday I got around to watching and listening to the service; I was relieved to find that the newly-commissioned music wasn't as bad as I'd feared; it seemed the composers had decided to produce pastiche 'Royal'-type music , which was at least harmless. The only piece I disliked (at a first hearing) was the Roxana Panufnik, which sounded to me bit of a mess, as if something had gone wrong with the ensemble, though since everything else was performed impeccably maybe it is just her style; I don't now any of her other works. I'll be hearing it again and try to like it .

In case this hasn't been mentioned elsewhere, the Gibbons 'Amen' seems to be an Abbey regular. It was sung at the 1953 and 1937 Coronations and at the 1965 Westminster Abbey 900th anniversary service , which, interestingly , was published on an HMV Lp: I still have my copy. The Walford Davies was also sung at, and I suppose commissioned for, the 1937 event.

I'd like to have heard Vaughan Williams' 'Flourish for a Coronation' , though I doubt if anyone could equal Beecham's terrific performance if it; maybe, with the state of the world as it is, Elgar's sombre 1911 Coronation March would be more appropriate.

Another trivia fact is that the last three Coronations have now been notorious for wet weather. I'd be interested if anyone knows what the weather was in 1911, 1902 or 1837.

[Pulcinella]

Even putting aside the more ridiculous aspects of the service (such as having Unicorn Pursuivant present), I found the fact that it was basically an Anglican Holy Communion with only two people partaking rather at odds with the spirit of the occasion. Could the administration not have been done privately and elsewhere, either before (at the palace) or during one of the 'breaks', and not unduly influenced the whole event?
Given that overall format, where was the confession and where was any creed (did vouchsafing to uphold the CofE count as a substitute?)? Why no Benedictus (time constraint so only the Sanctus fitted in Roxanna Panufnik's two minute slot?)?
If you want to sample more of her music, smittins, I'd recommend her Westminster Mass: a similarly strange sound world, but remarkably effective imho.
I have the original release in the compilation with music of other composers, but I see that it has now been issued on a cheaper all-Panufnik CD.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=panufnik+westminster+mass&i=popular&crid=1NJ220W42218Q&sprefix=Panufnik+westminster%2Cpopular%2C60&ref=nb_sb_ss_fb_1_20

[Keraulophone]

I have been looking for the Decca streaming/download release which was anticipated in many media outlets at 6pm yesterday. Can't find it anywhere and nothing on Spotify. The only CIIIR/Camilla coronation 2023 item seems to be an inane mixtape-type playlist.

It did appear on Spotify (though it's not on Qobuz) at the appointed time, but the search had to be specific otherwise that mixtape appeared.

Here's the link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3rQRFsInIVzTras9vj1P4i?si=nb-TDpv5TaKExAu1j8ecqA

The opening of Bach's Magnificat gets proceedings off to a thrilling start - faster than ever, but amazing articulation from the Monteverdi Choir.
.

[smittims]

I've been listening for the first time to the music played before the service; considering this with the new music commissioned for the service itself suggested to me that the composers had been, to some extent, told what sort of music was expected : it was all, to my ears, of a simliar style and idiom (the Panufnik excepted).

I haven't seen who chose the composers . I wonder if, one day, someone will spill the beans . At least it did have a sort of satisfying unity , though, not suprprisingly, the items by 'real' composers stood out. I think this might have been why the Walton Te Deum sounded so well; it's not a major work, but, like the Elgar march, oh! how much better than what went before (Byrd and Boyce excepted).

The Jenkins, Mealor , Hess and Wisean pieces didn't disappoint me, as they were much what I'd expected , but the Weir , alas! however hard I tried to like it, made me dismayed to think why this composer is so much favoured by the BBC. .

[Nick Armstrong]

It did appear on Spotify (though it's not on Qobuz) at the appointed time, but the search had to be specific otherwise that mixtape appeared.

Here's the link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3rQRFsInIVzTras9vj1P4i?si=nb-TDpv5TaKExAu1j8ecqA

The opening of Bach's Magnificat gets proceedings off to a thrilling start - faster than ever, but amazing articulation from the Monteverdi Choir.
.

It is on Qobuz:



In fact there seem to be two albums: one including the pre-ceremony music, and one starting with the fanfares & I Was Glad i.e. just the service

[Lordgeous]

I wonder if the Decca CD source is from the BBC sound or if they set up their own mics and equipment? BTW What a wonderful job by the BBC sound engineers. Glad to see they were duly acknowledged in thed Guardian today.

[Keraulophone]

It is on Qobuz

Ah, thank you... didn't see it at first but searching for 'The Official...' worked.

[Pulcinella]

Ah, thank you... didn't see it at first but searching for 'The Official...' worked.

Same here with Deezer.
Two versions: The Service and Complete (so with the pre-service music).

[oddoneout]

I've been listening for the first time to the music played before the service; considering this with the new music commissioned for the service itself suggested to me that the composers had been, to some extent, told what sort of music was expected : it was all, to my ears, of a simliar style and idiom (the Panufnik excepted).

I haven't seen who chose the composers . I wonder if, one day, someone will spill the beans . At least it did have a sort of satisfying unity , though, not suprprisingly, the items by 'real' composers stood out. I think this might have been why the Walton Te Deum sounded so well; it's not a major work, but, like the Elgar march, oh! how much better than what went before (Byrd and Boyce excepted).

The Jenkins, Mealor , Hess and Wisean pieces didn't disappoint me, as they were much what I'd expected , but the Weir , alas! however hard I tried to like it, made me dismayed to think why this composer is so much favoured by the BBC. .

A snippet of talk from one of the composers in the pre-event mixtape mentioned precise instructions about duration etc. I'm afraid I wasn't listening closely as it was prefaced by Katie D who had an automatic shut-down effect on my ears...
All the reports and articles say that KC chose the composers himself. I don't see any reason to suppose that it was otherwise, since none is an unknown quantity, several have already featured in royal occasions, and he does have a more than passing interest in music.

[oddoneout]

And on cue

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/may/09/coronation-composer-iain-farrington-king

[Pulcinella]

And on cue
https://www.theguardian.com/music/20...arrington-king

Of which these two passages are particularly worth quoting:

We were sat between current members of the government, who all had to be there from the beginning. It was disappointing to see how many of them engaged in loud conversation throughout the pre-service music and were frequently checking their phones.

My own piece was superbly played by Matthew Jorysz, and was swiftly followed by a procession of former UK prime ministers into their seats, a veritable rogues gallery, a reminder that while the abbey was full of the great and the very good, there was also a small space for the bad, the ugly and the downright awful.

[Bryn]

Of which these two passages are particularly worth quoting:

We were sat between current members of the government, who all had to be there from the beginning. It was disappointing to see how many of them engaged in loud conversation throughout the pre-service music and were frequently checking their phones.

My own piece was superbly played by Matthew Jorysz, and was swiftly followed by a procession of former UK prime ministers into their seats, a veritable rogues gallery, a reminder that while the abbey was full of the great and the very good, there was also a small space for the bad, the ugly and the downright awful.

I wonder who was responsible for suggesting Iain Farrington? If it was Charles Windsor himself, he seems to have picked a good representative of his views regarding the current bunch of criminals running the country.

[Serial_Apologist]

I wonder if the Decca CD source is from the BBC sound or if they set up their own mics and equipment? BTW What a wonderful job by the BBC sound engineers. Glad to see they were duly acknowledged in thed Guardian today.