Customer Reviews

Handel: 4 Coronation Anthems

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FOUR GREAT CHOIRS AND CHANCE AND KIRKBY TOO! WOW!!!

These 2 discs offer the music of 3 different choirs and 4 different times periods. CD 1 features the Choir of King's College, Cambridge,performing 4 Coronation Anthems: Zadok the priest; My heart is inditing; Let my hand be strengthened and The King shall rejoice. Recording Date:August,1963.

The second time period, also featuring a King's College choir singing "Dixit Dominus" ,is Dec. 1986 and this offering is my favorite because the choir sings more skillfully than the 1963 choir and also because it features Michael Chance in the alto solos when he was in the early stages of his career (a real collector's item).

CD 2 begins with Handel's "Foundling Hospital Anthem" sung by the Winchester Cathedral Choir in Feb. l993. They performed it well except the boy sopranos had a rather harsh sound on the high notes as if they were oversinging.

The final selections :Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate Te Deum were excellently sung by the Choir of Christ Church, Oxford recorded in July , 1979. I liked this choir a lot. They had "sparkle"; displayed a great deal of vocal energy and the boys' voices were glorious! Emma Kirkby was a soloist in the "Jubilate" and her voice is always clear and clean and bright. All in all this 2CD package has a lot to offer!!!

All of this CD is fabulous, but the main reason I bought this CD was to own Handel's Anthem for the Foundling Hospital. The first time I heard this piece (on the radio), I had to stop driving and just listen. The words and music are incredibly touching, encouraging us with the blessings God promises to those who "consider the poor and needy". Handel himself set the example by writing this piece for a benefit concert for a foundling hospital. If you love Handel's music, you simply must get a copy of Anthem for the Foundling Hospital. You will not be disappointed.

I bought this CD as a help to sing the 1st sporano part for the Foundling Hospital Anthem. It is a crisp recording and helped me learn my part for performance. I have no regrets and would buy this CD again. The other pieces on the CD are also of high quality.