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Handel's Coronation Anthems in Building a Library with Simon Heighes and Andrew McGregor

Simon Heighes chooses his favourite recording of Handel's Coronation Anthems in Building a Library, and Nigel Simeone shares some remarkable new releases.

Andrew McGregor with the best new recordings of classical music.

9.30 am
Nigel Simeone shares some new releases which have caught his ear and shares his 'On Repeat' track – a recording which he is currently listening to again and again.

10.30 am
Building a Library: Simon Heighes chooses his favourite recording of Handel's Coronation Anthems

In the build up to the coronation next week, Simon Heighes considers a set of anthems which contain possibly the most well-known choral movement in classical music: the glorious moment when after a steady crescendo from murmuring strings, the full forces of the choir explode on the words: Zadok the Priest.

Handel wrote these four anthems for the coronation of George II in 1727. And they have become standard for subsequent coronations. Handel had just become a naturalised British subject, and one of his first tasks was to write the coronation music. Their success added to the popular image of Handel as a composer whose music required a huge number of singers and musicians - the character criticised by Berlioz as "a barrel of pork and beer". In fact these works vary the massed forces for maximum contrast and make skilful use of the wide spatial reverberation in Westminster Abbey.

11.20 am
Record of the Week: Andrew’s top pick.
Send us your On Repeat recommendations at recordreview@bbc.co.uk or tweet us @tvRadio3

2 hours, 47 minutes

Music Played

  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony no.101 in D major 'The Clock' (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Conductor: Paavo Järvi.
    • Sony/RCA Red Seal.
  • Tarquinio Merula

    Canzoni overo sonate concertate per chiesa e camera, Op. 12 No. 19, Ballo detto

    Ensemble: Ensemble Les Surprises. Conductor: Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas.
    • Alpha.
  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Laudate Dominum omnes gentes III, SV 274 (from Selva morale e spirituale)

    Ensemble: Ensemble Les Surprises. Conductor: Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas.
    • Alpha.
  • Giovanni Legrenzi

    Ingemisco

    Ensemble: Ensemble Les Surprises. Conductor: Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas.
    • Alpha.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Fantasia in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 28: III. Presto

    Performer: Alexander Melnikov.
    • Fantasie: Seven Composers, Seven Keyboards.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 108.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165: No. 1, Exsultate, Jubilate

    Performer: Daniel Bard. Singer: Franco Fagioli. Orchestra: Kammerorchester Basel.
    • Anime Immortali.
    • Pentatone.
    • 108.
  • Nino Rota

    Il cappello di paglia di Firenze, Finale: Tutto... A posto!

    Librettist: Ernesta Rota Rinaldi. Orchestra: Graz Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Daniele Squeo.
    • Il cappello di paglia di Firenze.
    • CapriccioNR.
    • 21.
  • Béla Bartók

    4 Orchestral Pieces, Sz. 51: I. Preludio. Moderato

    Orchestra: Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Karina Canellakis.
    • Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra.
    • Pentatone.
    • 1.
  • Johannes Brahms

    String Sextet No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 18

    Performer: Duccio Ceccanti. Performer: Vittorio Ceccanti. Performer: Matteo Fossi. Music Arranger: Theodor Kirchner.
    • Brilliant Classics.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No. 2 'Resurrection' Vb. "Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du".

    Singer: Christiane Karg. Singer: Elisabeth Kulman. Choir: Prague Philharmonic Choir. Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • Pentatone.
  • Gabriel Fauré

    Cello Sonata No. 1 in D minor, Op. 109 i) Allegro

    Performer: Paul Tortelier. Performer: Jean Hubeau.
    • Elatus.
  • Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka

    Ruslan and Ludmila (Overture)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Georg Solti.
    • Borodin/Glinka/Mussorgsky: Romantic Russia: London Symphony/Solti.
    • Decca.
    • 1.
  • Louise Farrenc

    Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 35 iii) Scherzo. Vivace

    Orchestra: Insula Orchestra. Conductor: Laurence Equilbey.
    • Erato.
  • Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Orfeo ed Euridice, Wq. 30, Act 3 - 'J'ai perdu mon Euridyce'

    Singer: Michael Spyres. Orchestra: Il Pomo d’Oro. Conductor: Francesco Corti.
    • Erato.
  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

    Sonata in B Minor, H. 512, Wq. 76 iii) Allegretto siciliano

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Performer: Kristian Bezuidenhout.
    • Channel Classics.
  • Emily Howard

    Torus

    Orchestra: tv Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins.

Record Review

The link below each recording takes you directly to the label’s website. Please be aware that non-UK labels may be cheaper via a record store or an online retailer.

9.00am

Haydn London Symphonies Vol. 1 Nos 101 & 103

Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen

Paavo Järvi (conductor)

RCA RED SEAL 19658807412

Nuit a Venise. Monteverdi, Legrenzi, Merula etc.

Ensemble Les Surprises

Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas (director)

Alpha Classics ALPHA927

Fantasie: Seven Composers, Seven Keyboards. Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn etc.

Alexander Melnikov (harpsichord/fortepiano/tangent piano/piano)

Harmonia Mundi HMM 902702

Anime immortali. Mozart arias.

Franco Fagioli (counter tenor)

Kammerorchester Basel

Daniel Bard (concertmaster)

Pentatone PTC 517 7044

09.30am – Nigel Simeone: New Releases

Nino Rota: Il cappello di paglia di Firenze

Piotr Buszewski (Ferdinand)

Tetiana Miyus (Elena)

Daeho Kim (Nonancourt)

Anna Brull (La Baronessa di Champigny)

Ivan Oreščanin (Beaupertuis)

Antonia Cosmina Stancu (Anaide)

Dariusz Perczak (Emilio)

Martin Fournier (Lo zio Vezinet)

Mario Lerchenberger (Felice/Achille di Rosalba)

Richard Friedemann Jähnig (Un caporale)

Silvija Pleše (La modista)

Veli-Pekka Varpula (Una guardia)

Julian Gaudiano (Minardi)

Capriccio C5466 (2 CDs)

Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, 4 Orchestral Pieces

Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra

Karina Canellakis (conductor)

Pentatone PTC 5187027

Brahms: String Sextets, Arranged for Piano Trio by Theodor Kirchner

Matteo Fossi (piano)

Duccio Ceccanti (violin)

Vittorio Ceccanti (cello)

Brilliant Classics 96867

Mahler: Symphony no.2

Christiane Karg (soprano)

Elisabeth Kulman (mezzo soprano)

Prague Philharmonic Choir

Czech Philharmonic

Semyon Bychkov (conductor)

Pentatone PTC 5186992

Nigel Simeone: On Repeat

Faure Cello Sonatas 1 and 2, Elegie. Debussy Cello Sonata

Paul Tortelier (cello)

Jean Hubeau (piano)

Warner Elatus 0927490122



Listener On Repeat

Romantic Russia: Glinka, Mussorgsky

London Symphony Orchestra

Georg Solti (conductor)

Decca 4783199

10.10am – New Releases


Louise Farrenc Symphonies 1-3 & Overtures

Insula Orchestra

Laurence Equilbey (conductor)

Erato 5419752210 (2 CDs)

Contra-Tenor. Lully, Handel, Vivaldi, Gluck etc.

Michael Spyres (tenor)

Il Pomo d’Oro

Francesco Corti (conductor)

Erato 5419729346

10.30am – Building a Library: Simon Heighes on Handel’s Coronation Anthems


Recommended recording:

Choir of King’s College Cambridge

Academy of Ancient Music

Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

EMI CDC5571402


10.10am – New Releases

C.P.E. Bach: Sonatas for keyboard and violin

Rachel Podger (violin)

Kristian Bezuidenhout (fortepiano and harpsichord)

Channel Classics CCS SA 41523 (SACD)

Emily Howard: Torus

tv Symphony Orchestra

Martyn Brabbins (conductor)

NMC recordings NMC D274

11.25am – Record of the Week

Jurowski conducts Stravinsky Vol. 2. Tchaikovsky arr. Stravinsky– The Sleeping Beauty. Stravinsky – The Fairy’s Kiss.

London Philharmonic Orchestra

Vladimir Jurowski (conductor)

LPO 0126 (Digital download)

Broadcast

  • Sat 29 Apr 2023 09:00

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