Dvd Haendel The Coronation of King George II

While the goth scene in England was picking up commercial steam in the mid-'80s, the Sisters of Mercy may have seemed quiet, but they roared back with 1987's Floodland. Opening with the driving two-part hymn "Dominion/Mother Russia," Sisters leader Andrew Eldritch (along with bassist Patricia Morrison) creates a black soundscape that is majestic and vast. While the earlier Sisters releases were noisy, sometimes harsh affairs, Floodland is filled with lush production (thanks to Meat Loaf writer/producer Jim Steinman and the New York Choral Society) and lyric imagery that is both scary and glorious. The slower tracks, like "Flood" and "1959," are some of the best ethereal sounds goth has to offer, and the downright regal "This Corrosion" is one of the best songs of the genre. A definite milestone.

Coronation Anthems have delighted audiences ever since their first performance in 1727. They appear in all their glory on this recording interspersed with a selection of Handel favourites including an interesting version of his Organ Concerto in F major Opus 4 in its original version with the finale of an 'Hallelujah' chorus. One of Handel’s first tasks as a naturalised British Citizen was to write the music for the Coronation of the new monarch – King George II. Rarely did a composer of the day have such an audience for his new works and Handel composed his four Anthems to match the pomp and grandeur of the occasion and, of course, the venue – Westminster Abbey.

Decca's 2015 limited-edition box set of the complete Argo recordings of the King's College Choir of Cambridge, directed by David Willcocks, consists of 29 CDs spanning the period from 1957 to 1973. The albums, presented with their original jacket art, offer some of the choir's finest performances, which include three recordings of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols (1954, 1958, 1964), anthems by Gibbons, Blow, and Handel, masses by Byrd, Taverner, Haydn, Tye, and Blow, and other great choral works by Bach, Allegri, Palestrina, Tallis, Vivaldi, Howells, and Vaughan Williams. The choir is world famous for its purity of tone and beautiful blend, and under Willcocks' masterly direction it became the exemplar of British choral singing, unmatched by any other ensemble of men and boys.

Coronation Anthems have delighted audiences ever since their first performance in 1727. They appear in all their glory on this recording interspersed with a selection of Handel favourites including an interesting version of his Organ Concerto in F major Opus 4 in its original version with the finale of an 'Hallelujah' chorus. One of Handel’s first tasks as a naturalised British Citizen was to write the music for the Coronation of the new monarch – King George II. Rarely did a composer of the day have such an audience for his new works and Handel composed his four Anthems to match the pomp and grandeur of the occasion and, of course, the venue – Westminster Abbey.