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Decca to release recording of King Charles’ coronation immediately after it takes place
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 28 April 2023
Universal Music’s Decca Records has announced plans to record and release King Charles III’s coronation as an album on the same day that it happens next month.
This will be, the label notes, “the first time ever a recording of a coronation ceremony – a tradition which can be traced back more than 1000 years – will be available globally to stream and download on the day of the service itself”. Not least because there hasn’t been one of these events in the UK since 1953.
Still, this is great news for anyone who wants to immediately relive the whole event in audio form after watching it on 6 May. All four hours of it. Following the digital release, the record will also be issued physically on 15 May, with deluxe editions on CD and vinyl then arriving later in the year.
Music-wise, the event will include six new orchestral pieces, five choral works and one for the organ, which have all be commissioned by the king and written especially for the occasion. This includes a ‘coronation anthem’, titled ‘Make A Joyful Noise’, which has been composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Overseeing the quickly created album will be producer Anna Barry, who has previously recorded other royal events, including the marriages of William and Kate in 2011 and then Harry and Meghan in 2018.
“This will be a truly historic recording”, says Barry, “capturing a glorious range of music from across centuries and continents, reflecting the worldwide interest in our traditions, covering multiple locations in the wonderful acoustic of Westminster Abbey, and involving an unprecedented technical plan to present the entire experience to the world on the day itself. Balance engineer Mike Hatch, I and the team are honoured and excited to be a part of this”.
Co-Presidents of Decca Label Group, Tom Lewis and Laura Monks, add: “Coronation services have been taking place since the eleventh century. Never before has a complete recording been made available to global audiences to stream and download on the same day. Decca have a longstanding and proud association with the British royal family and we are delighted to be once again making recorded music history together”.
Again, it’s been 70 years since one of these ceremonies has taken place, which would have made it difficult to put together a same-day release on download and streaming services last time around. But whatever, it’s happening.
