Back in 2003, Herve Niquet amassed 101 musicians for Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks and Water Music, billing it as the ‘first historical recording’ of these works. Here, the French conductor almost but not quite repeats the trick, with a return to a glittering Baroque world of royal splendour with the Coronation Anthems and Dettingen Te Deum. Niquet might not have gathered the 130-200 participants some contemporary newspapers reported for the Anthems – presumably, in 2021, Covid played some role in that decision – but he’s bumped up the authentic feel where it counts, using large numbers of wind players. Think ten oboists, six bassoonists and eight trumpeters. And vocal solos are given to the whole choir.

Above all, this is expressive Handel playing. These four anthems were written for George II’s coronation 1727, at Westminster Abbey, but there’s a sense of the personal as well as the public here. There’s a loveliness to the opening of Zadok the Priest that makes us feel we’re in safe hands. Vibrant trumpets and drums bring ceremonial energy to