Page 301 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

11 May 2023

The Coronation Concert was an outmoded

jamboree – think again BBC

Most of the acts felt like stand-ins at a second-rate shiny-floor show from the 1970s. Is this really
the best Britain could muster?
BEN LAWRENCE

Change the tune: Paloma Faith performing at the Coronation Concert CREDIT: AP Photo/Kin
Cheung, Pool

Last weekend, we witnessed a major cultural event that ought to make us the envy of the world,
and another that ought to make us its laughing stock. The King’s Coronation served as a reminder
that classical music isn’t just the preserve of the northern Europeans: we can deliver a classier,
more eclectic, less stuffy programme, which those in the UK who think the art form is elitist or
(worse) irrelevant would do well to observe. Here was a morning of unrivalled emotional power, an
example of how music can move us and unite us. I hope a knighthood is imminent for baritone
Roderick Williams (the star player, in my opinion), and that superstardom beckons for soprano
Pretty Yende – a standout in the pre-Coronation programme.
But what a difference a day makes. The Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle on Sunday evening
left me feeling a little depressed. If this was the best that mainstream entertainment had to offer,
then we are all off to hell in a handcart.
When the aliens land 5,000 years from now and watch footage of the concert to learn about how
we Earthlings did human entertainment back in the day, they will be subjected to some of the
worst Shakespearean recitation ever heard, more patronising nonsense from choirmaster Gareth
Malone – marshalling the masses into being more middle-class – and Steve Winwood.