This recording features music from each of the coronations
from James II (1685) to George III (1761), and includes music hitherto not recorded.
Boyce's autograph score of the music for the coronation of
George III is housed in Oxford's Bodleian Library, one of the world's
greatest collections of manuscripts and books. In the recording sessions,
instrumentalists and choir performed from facsimiles of the very
material used on George's III's coronation day in 1761.
The Bodleian also
provided material for Croft's
'The Lord is a sun and shield',
sung at George I's coronation. BBC Radio 3's CD Review
recently hailed this latter work as 'discovery of the year'.
Recorded in the Temple Church, London
11-12
July 2001 & 25-26 June 2002
Playing time : 71'13" DDD
Reviews
"This enterprising collection of coronation anthems...is
superbly performed with a striking sense of occasion and some
suitably celebratory contributions from the Academy of Ancient Music.
[Boyce's The King shall rejoice], more than any other single
item, is the cause for an imperative recommendation...Excellent
performances by choir and instrumentalists."
The Gramophone
"Handel’s four splendid and wonderfully varied Coronation anthems, together with Purcell’s and My heart is inditing have long taken centre stage in music for these occasions, causing us to overlook pieces by other composers expressly written for English coronation services. Edward Higginbottom, New College choir and The AAM have redressed the matter... The voices of the New College choristers sound fresh, eager and youthful, and the lay clerks disciplined and evenly balanced. An enjoyable disc."
BBC Music Magazine, July 2002
