More than 250 years of music celebrating the reign of the great British monarchs
CD 1 – HANDEL: Coronation Anthems
Handel’s four uplifting Coronation Anthems, including the epic Zadok the Priest with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and his beautiful Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, with its celestial invocation for trumpet and counter-tenor, ‘Eternal source of light divine’.
CD 2 – MUSIC ALL POWERFUL: Music to entertain Queen Victoria
‘…when they could burst the shackles of their dreadful academic training, the Victorians could show a touching great-heartedness which is their most endearing feature’ (Geoffrey Coleby). A re-creation of a bygone age with music by Mendelssohn and Sullivan as well as a host of now forgotten composers, as would have been heard at the court of Queen Victoria.
CD 3 – MUSIC OF ALBERT: Prince of Saxe, Coburg und Gotha
Behind the stuffed shirts and the stiff upper lips in the Victorian era, dwelt some admirable spirits, none perhaps more so than Prince Albert. Among this collection of songs by him are some which could take their place worthily in any Lieder recital, some reminiscent of the writing of Schubert and early Schumann.
CD 4 – JUBILEE: A Celebration of Royal Music
A celebration of the great British coronations from King James (1685) to Queen Elizabeth II (1953) with pomp and pageantry. Music by Purcell, Elgar, Walton, Bliss, and Britten’s distinctive arrangement of the British National Anthem.
CD 1
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Four Coronation Anthems
1 Zadok the Priest
2 My Heart is Inditing
3 Let thy Hand be Strengthened
4 The King shall Rejoice
The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
English Chamber Orchestra
Sir David Willcocks
5 Ode for the Birthday of Queene Anne
Emma Kirkby, soprano · Judith Nelson, soprano
Shirly Minty, contralto · James Bowman, countertenor
Martin Hill, tenor · David Thomas, bass
The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
The Academy of Ancient Music
Simon Preston
CD 2
BERTHOLD TOURS
1 The Stars beyond the Cloud
CIRO PINSUTI
2 Good night, Beloved
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
3 I would I were a King
PRINCE ALBERT
4 Melody for the Violin
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
5 The Passage Bird’s Farewell (Abschied der Zugvogel), Op. 63 No. 2
6 Song without words, Op. 38 No. 2 ‘Lost Happiness’
SIR JOSEPH BARNBY
7 Sweet and low
HYACINTH ELEANORE KLOSE
8 Air Varie for ophicleide
WILLIAM BEALE
9 Come let us join the Roundelay
FELIX MENDELSSOHN
10Autumn Song (Herbstlied), Op. 63 No. 4
NIKOLAI VLADIMIROVICH GALKIN
11 Mazurka
THOMAS FORBES WALMISLEY
12 Music, all powerful
ALICE MARY SMITH
13 O that we two were maying
JOHN GEORGE CALLCOTT
14 The Lark now leaves his Watery Nest
CECILE CHAMINADE
15 Arlequin
ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON
16 A Loyal Ode
SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN
17 The Long Day Closes
Purcell Consort of Voices
Susan Longfield, soprano; Pauline Stevens, mezzo-soprano
Margaret Cable, contralto; Grayston Burgess, counter-tenor
Ian Partridge, tenor; John Buttrey, tenor
Geoffrey Shaw, baritone; Christopher Keyte, bass
Grayston Burgess, director
with:
Jennifer Partridge, piano; Iona Brown, violin
Alan Lumsden, ophicleide; David King, speaker
CD 3
PRINCE ALBERT
1 Standchen
2 Trauerlied
3 Gruss aus der Ferne
4 Klage der Liebe
5 Der Ungeliebte
6 Nichts Schoneres
7 Lebewohl
8 Reiterlied
9 Liebe hat uns nun verient
10 Die Winterreise
11 Einsamkeit
12 Die letzen Worte eines Barden
13 Schmerz der Liebe
14 Abendruhe
15 Vereinigung
16 Invocazione all’Armonia
Purcell Consort of Voices
Susan Longfield, soprano; Pauline Stevens, mezzo-soprano
Ian Partridge, tenor; Geoffrey Shaw,baritone; Christopher Keyte, bass
Grayston Burgess, director
with:
Jennifer Partridge, piano
CD 4
1 HANDEL: Zadok the Priest
2 PURCELL: Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary
3 PURCELL: I was glad
4 BLISS: Antiphonal Fanfare for Three Brass Choirs
5 WALTON: Crown Imperial (A Coronation March) (arr. Herbert Murrill)
6 PARRY: I was glad
7 BAX: Fanfare for the Wedding of Princess Elizabeth, 1947
8 BLISS: Welcome the Queen
9 WALTON: Coronation Te Deum
10 ELGAR: Imperial March, Op. 32 (arr. George C. Martin)
11 WALTON: Orb and Sceptre
12 ANON.: God Save the Queen (arr. Benjamin Britten)
Choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge · Choir of King’s College, Cambridge
Sir David Willcocks · George Guest · Sir Georg Solti · Benjamin Britten
Philip Jones Brass Ensemble · Carlo Curley · Simon Preston