The Australian Chamber Choir’s Buckingham Palace comes to us with the spectacular pageantry and music of the funeral of Elizabeth II and Coronation of Charles III fresh in the minds of millions.

The program presents music principally performed at Coronations and funerals from the reigns of Elizabeth I to Charles III, including some of the many commissions. The opening piece, Rejoice in the Lord Always, established a sound which was energetic but not overstated or pushed, and had an assurance and easiness of tempo and style – qualities heard throughout the concert. This often imparted a meditative quality to the event, even during the brisker pieces.

Australian Chamber Choir. Photo © Jessica Pigg

Douglas Lawrence assembled an ensemble of accomplished singers with a fine sense of their part in that great musical instrument – the choir. There was a shared understanding of style and fine attention to blend, tonal quality and intonation, leading them to sing as one. They sounded musically at ease with one another, as in Taverner’s Song for Athene, which was underpinned by a seamlessly breathed bass drone, above which the choral singing was assured yet restrained and...