Nowadays the British pride themselves on their ability to arrange
great state occasions but that was not always the case. The
coronation of George III in 1727 was marred by the existence
of two running orders, and in particular some confusion as to
the order in which the Anthems would be sung. In addition the
performers were placed in two specially erected galleries separated
by the altar which made coordination difficult. Despite this
the anthems, especially Zadok the Priest, became popular
and no Handelian’s library is complete without at least
one recording of them.
The original performance was said to be by “40 Voices,
and about 160 violins, Trumpets, hautboys, Kettle-drums, and
Bass’s proportionable”. I am not aware of any recordings
which have attempted to emulate this, in particular the proportion
of singers to orchestra, although there are several which use
period instruments and male voices; it is, by the way, arguable
that some women did sing at the original performance due to
a shortage of boys in the Chapel Royal at that date. The present
performances use modern instruments and a mixed voice choir.
The number of performers is not given but the orchestra in particular
does not sound to be anywhere near the size of that used at
the original performance. Nonetheless what it lacks in numbers
it makes up for in the sheer splendour of its sound and in the
buoyancy of the rhythms. This is typical of the style of the
Academy at that date, and even an enthusiast for period performance
must admit that these performances do capture the scale, energy
and imagination of these works to perfection. It is extraordinary
to realise just how much expectations as to choral and solo
singing have changed in the last twenty-five years but it would
be hard to equal the panache and delicacy - as required - of
this recording. The soloists do not have much to do but do it
well. The only oddity is the very subdued playing of the whole
of the introduction to Zadok the Priest but this does
serve to emphasise the impact of the choir’s entry. The
disc is completed with three short excerpts from “Judas
Maccabaeus” which are enjoyable but make limited impact
out of their original context.
All in all this is a very desirable reissue whose only fault
is its very short length. The cover states that the total time
is 60:00 but in fact it is just under 45 minutes. Personally
I would regard this as a case where high quality outweighs small
quantity but given the number of Academy recordings from this
period that are currently unavailable it is a pity that more
could not have been offered. I would nonetheless urge you to
ignore this point and instead concentrate on the quality of
the music and performances on offer here.
John Sheppard
Joan Rodgers (soprano); Catherine Denley (alto); Anthony Rolfe Johnson
(tenor); Robert Dean (bass) 
