CORONATION TE DEUM

Sir William Walton (1902 to 1983)

Sir William Walton’s stirring coronation marches, Crown Imperial (1937) and Orb and Sceptre (1952 – 1953), demonstrate how strongly and proudly he placed himself within the strong British tradition of pomp and circumstance, and festive music for royal occasions. He added to it the touches of brilliance and sophistication that had first brought him to fame in the 1920s.

Like Orb and Sceptre, the Coronation Te Deum was commissioned for the installation of Queen Elizabeth II. Taking into account the acoustic properties of Westminster Abbey, where the ceremony took place on 2 June 1953, Walton divided the choral forces in two, allowing for many striking antiphonal effects. He also added the organ and an extra brass to the chorus and full orchestra. The result is a suitably grand, jubilant work that seamlessly incorporates passages of a more reflective nature.

Move Him Into The Sun

Bob Chilcott (b. 1955)

Like so many of the composers whose music you will hear on this program, Bob Chilcott leads a distinguished and multi-faceted career. His early career saw him serving as a chorister and choral scholar for one of the world’s best-known choruses, the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. His career was solidified by the 12 years he spent as a member of a well-travelled and well-loved ensemble, the King’s Singers. He has published large quantities of varied choral music. Much of it is published by Oxford University Press and is widely recorded. He has been Principal Conductor of the Birmingham University Singers since 2019. To mark the onehundredth anniversary of the death of English poet Wilfred Owen (1893 to 1918), who died in combat during the Great War at 25, Chilcott composed this group of songs setting the poignant verses that Owen wrote in response to his wartime experiences.