Handel had already become a British subject by the time of George II's coronation on October 11th, 1727 but there was never any question after this glittering social event that the composer had also become an Englishman in the eyes of a critical public. To what degree pragmatism played a part in Handel's creation of his Coronation Anthems is hard to say; they unashamedly cater for a recognizable national penchant for clearly defined grandeur. Yet however surface-oriented these well-known pieces are, they do demonstrate Handel's remarkably canny perception of what in transatlantic parlance, could provide the congregation with the 'feel-good factor' in eighteenth-century England: wonderfully bold and richly scored themes, at times almost arrogantly inflected with strutting rhythmic punctuations juxtaposed with the noblesse oblige of elegant and gentle curling melodies, heard to best effect in My heart is inditing. We cannot deny their powerful and moving effect today, even in an age which seems to find royalty a faint embarrassment.
The opening of Zadok the priest is an extraordinary dramatic 'coup' by anyone's standards and one which David Hill finds enough resource to bring to life in an exciting manner though without driving the music towards the coarse and overblown. The opening arpeggios are a bit of a non-event, disappointingly short of that smouldering quality which can set the scene so expectantly. Elsewhere the orchestra, The Brandenburg Consort, are the designer baroque group par excellence for this repertoire; everything always sounds fresh, buoyant and agreeably shaped, if a touch chaste.
Indeed, politesse is what distinguishes this recording from Simon Preston's well-established performances from 1983 with the Choir of Westminster Abbey, which are distinctly more energetic and fiery. Little of Preston's sizzling dynamism is on offer here, though if Hill and his Winchester choir are tame in this respect, they are certainly more forthcoming in matters of articulation and phrasing whose natural graciousness gives the majority of My heart is inditing a shape both fitting and persuasive (though the opening movement shows that not all voices are of equal merit). In the end, as much as I admire Hill's genial and imaginatively musical readings, there is not, to my mind, enough of the gripping and unabashed ostentation in these works to counterbalance his lyrical instincts. The Foundling Hospital Anthem Blessed are they that considereth the poor, requires less of the former which is perhaps why it forms the most satisfying performance on the disc; the choir sing most beautifully throughout and of the soloists, John Elwes is particularly sensitive to Handel's setting of charitable texts.'