Traditional with a twist hits all the right notes

When the date of the King’s coronation was announced there was a flurry of speculation about what music he would choose. Some said Charles would want a modest ceremony more in keeping with a modern nation, so the traditional fanfares acclaiming the new monarch would have to go. Others remembered the King declaring he wanted to be “Defender of Faiths” in general. Would the congregation be faced with a new piece by a Catholic composer, or even Buddhist or Jewish chants?

Well, now we know. Yes the traditional fanfares will be in place, but no, there will be no Buddhist chants. The announcement of the music for the coronation issued by Buckingham Palace is short on detail, but one thing we have learned is that the music will be rooted in tradition, with some interesting twists.

At its core will be sacred music by seven “historical” composers, five of whom (including William Byrd and Ralph Vaughan Williams) were also heard at the coronation of Elizabeth II. It will be performed by two choirs: the host choir (ie Westminster Abbey) and the King’s own Chapel Royal choir.

However, this historic core might well be cast in the shade by all the spectacular new things around it. Before the ceremony Sir John Eliot Gardiner will conduct The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque soloists in a programme of choral music.

Orchestral music, performed by a specially assembled Coronation

Orchestra conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, music director of the Royal Opera, will be dotted throughout the ceremony. There’ll also be a stunning array of guest musicians. No fewer than 12 new pieces, six of them orchestral, have been commissioned. It promises to be the most musically elaborate British coronation ever. Partly this is just about making a big splash. But it also allows Charles to show he is in touch with the issues of the day. For one thing, the music makes more than a token gesture towards diversity. Five of the 12 composers are women, and there are black musicians represented, including composer Roderick Williams, star South African soprano Pretty Yende, and the hand-picked gospel choir Ascension.

One of the new pieces will be from Sarah Class, already well-known to the King for her championing of environmental issues. Music itself is something the King is also passionate about. He played the cello as a young man and has traditional – but not entirely predictable – tastes, stretching to the little-known German romantic composer Jules Benedict, as well as Wagner, Chopin and Bach. The King once presented a TV documentary on one of his favourite composers, Sir Charles Hubert Parry, and it’s a fair bet Parry’s tremendous, earth-shaking anthem “I was Glad” will be performed at his coronation, as it was at the late Queen’s. There’s also a strong Welsh element in the ceremony, symbolised by the Royal Harpist Alis Huws, and the presence of star bass-baritone Bryn Terfel. His father’s Greek ancestry will be evoked in the singing of Greek Orthodox music, from the Byzantine Chant Ensemble. In all the music is a rich palimpsest of symbolic meanings, some ancient, some new, which are eloquent testimony to the subtle mind of our new monarch.