The Art-Music, Literature and Linguistics Forum

A previously unknown large-scale Choral Symphony by Sir George Dyson (1883-1964) has recently been unearthed and is being premiered in London on 13th March:

http://www.londonchorus.org.uk/concerts/concerts/2013-14/index.shtml (http://www.londonchorus.org.uk/concerts/concerts/2013-14/index.shtml)

A setting of Psalm 107, O give thanks unto the Lord, it is in four movements and scored for SATB soloists, double chorus and orchestra. This is wonderful news for admirers of the composer.

 ;D

With all his other major choral works already available on disc, I wonder if there is a recording in the pipeline ...

How interesting. I enjoy his Symphony very much and 'In Honour of the City of London'.

Currently listening to 'Quo Vadis' which I like more and more - the ending is wonderful.

What exciting news! I am very fond of Dyson, and it's wonderful to see how he has gone from being a minor footnote in British music histories to having all his major works recorded. Quo Vadis is a masterpiece, I think, and so is The Canterbury Pilgrims, in its lighter way. The Violin Concerto is one of my very favourite works in that genre (where there is considerable competition).

Dyson has been a great discovery although I was put off him initially having purchased the Chandos CD of the Violin Concerto when it came out in the 1990s (I later came to appreciate it).  Completely enchanted by 'The Canterbury Pilgrims' when it was released, the ending of 'Quo Vadis' is wonderful and his Symphony a delight.   I listen often to 'St Paul's Voyage to Melita' and quite often to 'Nebuchanezzar'.  Happy there is something undiscovered but if it is early Dyson I doubt it will be of the quality of the later choral pieces but here's hoping we may hear it.

These are exactly my own thoughts about Dyson! I am just discovering how good the Violin Concerto is and the end of Quo Vadis with(as the booklet notes say) its 'affirmative sense of homecoming' is as moving as any piece I know - absolutely wonderful music.

I'm really glad that there are fans of Dyson on here. I think that he is still criminally underrated - every one of his choral and orchestral scores has so much to offer. Particular favourites of mine are Quo Vadis, St Paul's Voyage to Melita, Nebuchadnezzar, The Blacksmiths (either in the full orchestral version, but especially in the version for two pianos, strings and timpani) and the two late concertos for string orchestra. He's a composer with a very individual harmonic style and a wonderful sense of choral effect.

Coming soon from the pen of Paul Spicer is the first full-length study of the composer -

http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=14451 (http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=14451)

Amazon's pre-order price is around £38.

 :)

Listened to the St Paul work today and enjoyed it enormously. As often with Dyson, I found the ending very powerful and moving - a super CD.

Wow, a late courier-post from Amazon has just delivered Paul Spicer's brand-new biography and American Horror Story series one and two on eight silver viddydiscs. Bonza! At first look the Dyson book seems enormously and definitively impressive with many music examples and photographs. The Boydell Press have put out some brilliant stuff recently on Constant Lambert and Hamilton Harty which are both in the rather large pile of 'books in progress'.

 ;D

I have Christopher Palmer's short book on Dyson.  On the basis that I have a large number of unsused book tokens that I cannot use on Amazon I will purchase this book as Dyson's choral music is a delight and has interested me for years.

I have just received the book too and hope to read it over the summer. Super illustrations in it.

Both excellent pieces of news! I have come to appreciate Dyson a great deal in the last few years. I think his violin concerto is one of the loveliest in the genre (and there is quite a bit of competition. The choral works too: I shall look forward greatly to the 'new' symphony. Yes, I have read the short Palmer book, written when hardly anything was available on record, so I look forward to the new book.

Like York Bowen, Dyson seems to have come from nowhere to having virtually everything recorded, but I find Dyson a lot more deserving of this!

(https://collectionimages.npg.org.uk/popover/mw219344/Sir-George-Dyson.jpg)

Hey, it's here - found the thread after only seven years! Strongly recommended recordings of the major choral works:

In Honour of the City (1928); The Canterbury Pilgrims (1930) - Hickox, Chandos CHAN 9531(2)
Choral Symphony (1910); St Paul's Voyage to Melita (1932) - Hill, Naxos 8.573770
The Blacksmiths (1933); Sweet Thames, Run Softly (1954) - Willcocks, Somm CD014
Nebuchadnezzar (1934) - Hickox, Chandos CHAN10439
Quo Vadis (1936-45) - Hickox, Chandos CHAN 10061(2)

A wonderful composer.

 :)

I agree! I especially like the Symphony (both recordings), Concerto da Chiesa and Nebuchadnezzar.

Well, that's firm vindication! Thanks V.

 ;D

Funnily enough,I put on his Symphony,this morning and it's still playing NOW!

George Dyson: Symphony in G     City of London Sinfonia / Richard Hickox

I gather some people prefer the Naxos recording,but I'm quite happy with this and,what some people might regard as,the meagre playing time. I'm a fan of the Chandos sound (I think Thomson's Bax recording's sound spectacular! Although,maybe I have a problem with ear wax?! ::) ;D) and just having the symphony allows me to focus all my attention on it! The Symphony has a Straussian lushness to the orchestration,without the pomposity of (some of his epoch making tone poems)! Yet,it still sounds,quintessentially,English! It's full of lovely & often exciting orchestration. If I was that antiques chap on the tv with the loud suit's I might even call it "a right Bobby dazzler"! My only slight criticism is that,at one point,he brings out a truly glorious theme (that always has me dropping everything to listen to it) only for Dyson to,seemingly,forget all about it,never to return to it again! I feel a true master like Rachmaninov would have wrung it for all it's worth and,probably,brought it back towards the end?! But enough of comparison's! ::) Who am I to criticise? I can just about play The March of the Wooden Soldiers and Chopsticks! ::) It's a lovely symphony! :) :) :) Incidentally,the Chandos Cd I own has a lovely painting on the front!

I have the Naxos version which seems to have received very good reviews; I haven't heard the Chandos and so I can't compare them. In any case, I am no Dyson expert. In fact, I only realisesd I had a recording of his Symphony when Albion extolled the virues of Dyson in another thread some while ago and I went a-searcing my catalogue to see what I had of his and, blow me down, there it was. Please tell me I'm not alone on this forum in having records that I had entirely forgotten I'd bought! I also have a download of the Chandos recording of the Violin Concerto and I'd forgotten I had that too. :-\

Nevertheless, I must investigate the choral music which has so enthused y'all.

Yes, please do investigate! Dyson's choral works are a great legacy, and now all are superbly recorded as listed below...

 :D


The orchestral works are splendid too! The Naxos and Chandos discs are great: you can't have too much of such a splendid composer...

 ;)

  ??? ;D