With a stunning selection of choral music that is truly fit for a King, Andrew Gant leads the Choir of the Chapel Royal& The Musicians Extra-Ordinary to re-create the music that accompanied the coronation of James II and Queen Mary in 1685.
REVIEWS:
The performances are very good, as is the 24-bit recording...The instrumental parts are no mere accompaniments: the ‘twenty-four violins’ of the royal orchestra were apparently used for some of these anthems and they often have the field to themselves, hence the title ‘symphony anthems’, but I would have liked a slightly more even balance.
That’s a small price to pay for hearing such fine music in such sympathetic performances. The notes in the booklet, too, are very informative, even making a case against the usual assumption that Blow was acting altruistically in yielding the post of organist to Purcell, perhaps more an act of convenience for a busy musician.
