The Crown

Album review

This release from the in-house label at Versailles Palace was not just well timed to coincide with the coronation of Charles III in Britain; it is explicitly designated as a celebration of the occasion, but it can also serve the extra-ceremonial function of examining the compositional relationship between Purcell and Handel. Handel was 26 years younger, and the two lived in vastly different worlds in terms of both theater music and instrumental music. The coronation anthem, however, allows a unique glimpse into the creativity of these two giants of English music through a tradition that links them both. Each composer had the chance to write music for one coronation, Purcell for James II in 1685 and Handel for George II in 1727. Purcell wrote two anthems for the occasion, and Handel four, for different parts of the service. This performance includes shouted acclamations from the audience for each king but is not intended as a full re-creation of the events. One of Purcell's anthems, I was glad, was repeated at George II's ceremony, and the two composers set a partial common text, the biblical "My heart is inditing." The compositions are characteristic of their respective composers, but it is intriguing to see how well the Purcell pieces, not just I was glad, held up. The roots of Handel's way of filling up festival structures with rich counterpoint are already there in Purcell's pieces. The performances here are excellent, with a good-sized choir of 35, just slightly less than Handel's original group of 40, and the Choeur & Orchestre de l'Opéra Royale (there are no soloists, another point of commonality) under director Gaétan Jarry delivers a splendid sound, rendered in impressive clarity in the Chapelle Royale de Versailles. What may have put this album on classical best-seller charts in 2023 was its proximity in time to the coronation, but it is likely to be heard well beyond that event.
© James Manheim /TiVo