Winners and others at the most musical of Coronations
NewsNever has there been so much new music at a Westminster Coronation, without depleting the essential Pomp and Circumstance.
Here are a few medals and some peculiar omissions.
WINNERS
1 Hubert Parry
The King’s favourite composer opened the show.
2 Richard Strauss
They played, for some reason, the Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare
3 Debbie Wiseman
Composed two Alleluias, one for the church coir, the other for the sensational Ascension Choir, the first gospel group ever heard at a Coronation. .
4 Antonio Pappano
Conducted like a Trojan right through the service, with far less media attention than others.
5 Bryn Terfel and Roderick Williams
Magnificent baritone soloists
6 Pretty Yende’s yellow dress
So brave of her to wear it up on high
7 Georg Frideric Handel
Zadok the Priest never fails to raise the roofbeams.
OTHERS
1 The cello
Charles’s instrument. No time for a solo?
2 Tenors
None. Probably on strike.
3 Benjamin Britten
Not a note by England’s greatest composer
4 Ralph Vaughan Williams
Where was he? After all, he set most of the Anglican liturgy.
5 John Rutter
Employed as an arranger, not as a composer. I guess they ran out of time.
Pappano was a star… And rather less thrusting himself forward than, ahem, you know who..
I found Pappano’s gestures too busy, his mouth constantly moving, as if he was singing along with everything.
Yende’s singing was radiant but her dress was literally over the top.
If you know the Abbey well, her frock was not over the top for those actually there in the Abbey, or she’d never have been seen perched up in the air as an angel and seen from the waist up. Then she was not in the service but then there were two baritones competing – strange. Her contribution wasn’t broadcast on Sky News, which I watched to get lesser chat over every piece of music from Alastair Bruce than from Huw Edwards! Why can’t they basically shut up?
Yeah.but that´s the way Tony conducts always….his mouth is always constantly moving….I don´t care a damm what he does,if he chews a gum or smokes a cigar,as long as he gets the brilliant results he always gets! Maybe you should more listen to than watch…..
I saw JEG at the beginning. Whatever happened to him??!!
I’d add Andrew Nethsingha to the list of winners. He did an extraordinary job.
Vaughan Williams’s Rhosymedre was down to be performed on the running order before the service.
and it was; albeit too slowly played
By several country miles the finest music (for me) was that of William Byrd c. 1540 – 1623.
What W. B. would have made of the whole event I cannot imagine.
I thought the Byrd was wonderful as well.
No credits for choir and orchestra- shocking.
Cello- think you have got your days muddled up Norman.
https://globalnews.ca/news/9677876/king-charles-coronation-concert-canadian-cellist/amp/
I don’t agree with Britten being England’s “greatest composer”. That honour goes to Henry Purcell – but a country mile.
No to the dress. Don’t compete with your hosts for attention.
And don’t inflate the life jacket when still inside the church.
She looked like an angel high over the congregation. She was beautiful and her singing, glorious. It was entirely appropriate.
Lovely selection of music throughout, nice variety and pace. Well done!
The shambolic inclusion of Blacks (as entertainment) just highlights the absence of the only Black, driven out by the Firm, that matters.
I don’t know what Wiseman composed, but that was not gospel music, not harmonically, not melodically, not lyrically.
“driven out by the Firm, that matters.”
And, coincidentally, also “driven out” by her own family and friends.
Gold digger was absent.
Meghan made more money than Harry, who was living off the largesse of daddy and the handout from the state.
The entire Windsor family lives on the dole. Let’s be at least clear on that.
The moment they have to live by their own means, they would have to pawn their tiaras and rent out their castles on Airbnb.
She has become an obsession with some…. and really irrelevant for others
This is nonsense. Meghan is not black, she is of mixed race (you have seen her father?). Few, if any, were aware even of that before she made race an issue herself. She played white in her TV show.
BBC TV cut away from Vaughan Williams, but he got a couple of nods during the pre-Coronation concert to his Greensleeves Fantasia and Rhosymedre, both heard on the Radio 3 broadcast…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001lnlp
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001lkg8
Bryn Terfel is wobbly when high & loud. Pretty has a worn top too. Alarming for someone her age.
There’s a horrible slow beat in every note nowadays.
In another setting the gospel choir might have worked but not at a coronation. It felt like a “performance” and it shouldn’t. The theatrical costumes and swaying was out of place and felt disconnected from the rest of the dignified service.
Absolutely agree, the gospel stuff really jarred in this context, in what was otherwise a nicely-judged musical offering, especially the choral singing of which we are rightly proud as a nation. You’re never going to please everyone (and at the end of the day it’s the King’s choice, after all) but this was definitely a step too far. Maybe ok for the showbiz wedding of Harry and Meghan, but for a coronation, what on earth were they thinking?
I could have done without this novelty act but if black people aren’t treated differently, how will they manage to maintain that they’re victims for another two hundred years?
Was it not embarrassing for those black people in the choir who don’t feel the need to pretend that they’re in Zimbabwe?
“Dignified” = read “white.”
Loved the choir. I only wish there were other genres on display as well – jazz, soul, R&B, rock. Why only British and German classical for this?
And, most unfortunate, they were singularly unable to find their pitch. It seemed like they did their best to overcome the problem but did not succeed.
I thought all of the music was wonderful and appropriate, and would also single out the beautiful Walton Te Deum which was very special.
No tenors?
Howabout one of the most exquisite parts of polyphony towards the end of the Gloria (Byrd)?
Or the fantastic tenors in the pre-service Bruckner?
But to have omitted Walton’s Te Deum – both musically the most complex of the service’ music, but also the hardest to co-ordinate between choir, organ, orchestra and gallery brass – well, i am otherwise list for words!
There’s a reason some works of music stand the test of time, competing as they must with an ever increasing number of new works, and like it or not, Parry, Handel, Bach, Bruckner, Byrd, Walton et al very much outshone ALW and Wiseman….
And a final word to all the musicians: you were superb, and did your bit with such professionalism. Thank you!
Huh? Walton’s Te Deum *was* sung. Indeed, I heard it, as did millions of other people.
(See also the first para of UK Arts Admin’s extremely helpful comments here.)
The way I read What no Walton?’s comment is that this performance should have been mentioned (and not omitted) in the list of “Winners” of the ceremony.
So did i; i was referring to its omission from NL’s list!
Ah, sorry, right, gotcha (and thanks to Andrew T). Though I will make the mild plea that I was not alone; quite mild, anyway . . .
God Save the Kwing! (I’m still not used to the fact that Brenda is no longer with us.)
A word for the late Gordon Jacob. The national anthem can often sound just plain dull. We are quite used to the Jacob version now with its introduction and brass descant. But it remains so much more imposing.
The pieces by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Debbie Wiseman were abysmal. Absolutely unworthy.
‘Magnificent baritone soloists’
You can’t be serious. Bryn Terfel must be very near the end now.
i didn’t hear everything but there was an awful lot of mediocrity. What a wasted opportunity.
And why did Terfel sing with his arms crossed? That seemed very odd. (Yes, I know he changed his posture about halfway through.)
You can add to the list of losers anyone that had to endure ALW’s drivel.
One of the worst pieces of music I’ve ever heard.
On the other hand, the old music was appropriate. You could go out of the ceremony whistling an Elgar tune.
John Rutter was there in a significant way (also in person, and given a prominent seat) and did a vital job as he re-orchestrated no less than five big numbers. With only space for 33 instrumentalists in the organ loft (plus seven fanfare brass in the immediate side gallery) that was a really skilful piece of work. JR’s cleverly “down-sized” orchestration of the Walton “Te Deum” was an especially fine piece of craftsmanship (his equally skilful down-sizing of Parry “I was glad” was first heard at the 2011 royal wedding).
As mentioned by others, Andrew Nethsingha was the man who was in charge of all the music, and did a fabulous job – didn’t those combined choirs sound wonderful? (for the tecchie minded, in the numbers for choir and orchestra Antonio Pappano was following A.N. up in the organ loft using a TV monitor with technology that ensured no time-lag).
More widely, no-one reading SD needs reminding that music of this extraordinary standard only comes about because the performers started their musical training when at school (or, in the case of yesterday’s younger participants, are fortunate enough to be at schools where there is still some music provision). With constant cuts to UK education budgets, and music such an easy target, if ever there was a demonstration as to why music in UK schools should never, ever be sidelined, here – whether the choirs, the instrumentalists, the military bands – was proof of why music education in UK schools should be given the prominence – and the funding – that it deserves. (So a final, large, shout out to that choral “first” from yesterday’s musical extravaganza: the participation of the girl choristers from Truro and Belfast and those who enable them to perform at such an outstanding standard).
This.
I wonder if anyone from, or associated with ACE got an invitation…?
If so, just have another think, please.
Thanks for that, UK Arts Admin: extremely useful, especially the first paragraph.
Thanks for the Pretty Yende excerpt. I was up early in the US watching the coronation live but for some reason the channel I
was watching never once showed Yende singing although they showed the conductor swaying.
Sir Tony rocked !!!!!
The Strauss fanfare was a shocker to me because apparently it was deemed necessary to transpose it down from Strauss’ E flat Major (the proverbial Heroic Key) to C Major. Certainly, a bit easier to play in a lower pitch, I surmise that the natural resonance of C Major probably induced some beautiful acoustic partials in that magnificent space.
What on earth is she wearing?!
Like my teacher once said, it s not a matter of taste but a matter of lack of taste
That yellow dress was a bit over the top, in my opinion. I saw her sing and kept wondering if it was an alien Venus fly-trap waiting for its moment to swallow her up. Her singing, I thought, was excellent though.
The biggest winner were the Wieners.
Why Strauss and not John Williams?
Strauss died in 1949, so no royalties to pay anymore.
Yes, I’m sure that $2.50 payment to ASCAP would have put the whole event wildly over budget . . . .
John Williams in a Royal coronation? Are you kidding?
I have attended a number of operas and concerts conducted by Antonio Pappano. He never disappoints.
Pretty Yende gave a fabulous performance of Sacred Fire. I am looking forward to her concert in Antwerp in September when she will be opening the season of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. Tickets have been flying out the door.
For me the finest piece of music was Handel’s Zadok the Priest. Handel is a very difficult act to follow.
Huge coverage of Pretty Yende (the only classical female singer at the event?). I watched the entire ceremony and didn’t see her. I wish one of the Palace staff or even one of the professional musicians had suggested to the Gospel Choir that tight white trousers and sexual gryations aren’t a necessary part of singing.
I didn’t see her originally either. There was a whole group of us looking at the ceremony while enjoying a traditional teatime at a packed English pub in Antwerp. When I got home I had to look Pretty Yende up on youtube. She sang beautifully. Sacred Fire and Zadok the Priest were my favourite pieces of music from the Coronation. The latter I did hear in real time.
John Rutter
Employed as an arranger, not as a composer – probably just as well.
An unnecessary silly comment if you’re prepared to omit and accept the brainless tat by Andrew Lloyd Webber when Rutter should have written the Coronation Anthem instead , done a far better and classy job on a totally different level.
If he had, it would have been a glorious addition to his admirable composing OUP catalogue and choral composing legacy and would have more performances than the ALW drivel which was easily forgotten the minute it was sadly heard.
It’s a tragedy and loss to the world that Mr Rutter wasn’t asked to compose the Anthem, but thank goodness his expert arranging skills were used widely instead.
About time this man was knighted for services to choral music!