★★★★
The first British Coronation in 70 years is just weeks away, but the near-capacity house attracted to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s programme of George Frideric Handel’s “Music for the Royals” was not there for that reason.
This concert, with renowned French-Canadian conductor Bernard Labadie, the SCO Chorus at the top of their game, and a luxury line-up of soloists for the rarest music in the programme, has been years in the planning, but the coincidence was thought-provoking just the same.
No single composer will dominate proceedings at Westminster Abbey in 2023 the way Handel was the man-of-the-moment 300 years ago, but it is only in performances of his oratorios, especially Messiah, and his operas that we regularly hear evenings made up entirely of his music today.
Read More: Opera: Russian Double Bill, New Athenaeum, Royal Conservatoire
He remains very popular for a man long dead nonetheless, and the work that opened this concert, his Coronation Anthem No 1, Zadok the Priest, will be heard again in May, as it has been sung at every Coronation since the one it was written for. The less-well-known Coronation Anthem No 3, The King Shall Rejoice, brought the programme to an end, with a chorus of “Alleluia”s that pre-figured the Hallelujah Chorus.
In between, the hits kept coming, in instrumental music that combined period sensibility with modern instruments and technique in a style very specific to Labadie. The Water Music Suite No 1, with chamber organ, harpsichord and theorbo alongside strings and winds, has its lovely minuet, and the Music for the Royal Fireworks trounced the damp squib of the event Handel wrote it for with the glorious trumpets in the fourth movement’s “Rejoicing”.
The less familiar work was the earliest. Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, setting some sycophantic words by Ambrose Philips, was possibly a calling card from the newly-arrived German musician. Showcasing his familiarity with the sort of music he knew the English court appreciated, it sounded less like the Handel we know.
Read More: Brownbear singer on community, Demons and his anthem to black Scots
Countertenor Iestyn Davies had the main soloist’s role, as distinctive and immaculately enunciated as ever. In their duets, his voice combined beautifully with that of soprano Louise Alder, although she had less to do over the whole piece. Bass baritone Neal Davies was similarly unmistakable, particularly on his solo aria, a possible prototype for Messiah’s “Why Do The Nations”, but with a sillier text.
The vocal stars of the night, however, were undoubtedly the SCO Chorus, at full strength in numbers here, and the ensemble anyone in Scotland who sings in a choir should make a point of catching, to hear how it is done.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here