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Galore crummey5/21/2023 Yet to step into the spotlight at such vital moments, musicians need to be trained and supported, their world-class skills recognised and celebrated – not as the result of miracles, but of phenomenally hard work. Music was almost constantly present but often hidden, treated as peripheral until it was needed to deliver on the grandest scale. Back in the 21st century and amid current arts funding crises, the coronation’s musical symbolism remained equivocal. As drums were beaten and fanfares sounded, the commentators marvelled that music was essential for battlefield morale. The rest was largely faded out, making space for military manoeuvres. In a rare human moment, we saw the Master of the King’s Music, Judith Weir, listening to her tender, folk-inflected commission Brighter Visions Shine Afar with her eyes closed, head moving gently in time. Michael Crummey Biography Michael Crummey was born in Buchans, a mining town in the interior of Newfoundland ('as far from the salt water as you can get and still be in Newfoundland'), second of four boys he grew up there and in Wabush, another mining town near the Quebec border of Labrador. We joined the English Baroque Soloists midway through some gloriously airborne Bach and there was a flash of impassioned Bruckner from the Monteverdi Choir. Only snatches were included in the TV coverage. Most of the new pieces and many of the old, however, appeared in a separate sequence before the main event, like a playlist for a party too grand for Spotify. The South African soprano Pretty Yende singing at the coronation.
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