George Dyson - Choral Symphony (David Hill)

Information

Composer: George Dyson

• (01) Choral Symphony. Psalm CVII for solo, chorus and orchestra
• (05) St Paul's Voyage to Melita

Elizabeth Watts, soprano
Caitlin Hulcup, mezzo-soprano
Joshua Ellicott, tenor
Roderick Williams, baritone

The Bach Choir
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
David Hill, conductor

Date: 2017
Label: Naxos
https://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.573770

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Review

A game of two halves in which the first might be more noteworthy but the second is far better. Paul Spicer discovered Dyson’s 1917 graduation piece Psalm CVII symphony and overture (aka Choral Symphony) at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The psalm tells of the expulsion of the Jews from Israel but the nature of the verses is more ceremonial than narrative and so is Dyson’s long-breathed treatment. The composer clearly wanted to establish a sense of exiled longing but the piece can feel ponderous as a result; the climax to the slow movement takes a long time coming and, when it does, sounds rather too much like that from I was glad by Dyson’s teacher, Parry.

I’ll concede that the work reveals something of the goal-oriented breadth some will know from Dyson’s Magnificat in D. Elizabeth Watts will certainly know that piece given her background, and she brings a sense of love and fluidity to her solo contributions. But the Choral Symphony’s relative dullness and impressionability sets it in direct contrast to Dyson’s purely narrative St Paul’s Voyage to Melita. The composer obviously had his ears open in the intervening 20 years and the piece almost justifies Spicer’s bold claim in the booklet note that ‘as an orchestrator [Dyson] was second to none’.

Gone is the parochial rum-ti-tum (despite the subject of a sea voyage), banished is the over-influential spectre of Parry and the sense that Dyson is struggling to keep his textures virile. Even in the opening pages there are textural devices and harmonic glances that colour the tale, while the proverbial sea spray of the storm sequence is thrilling. Dyson’s solution to the appearance of the angel that miraculously saves St Paul’s crew – maintaining momentum via a single drumbeat – is a masterstroke. Joshua Ellicott sings with a true sense of drama and the chorus sound interested and enlivened. Diction is excellent even if the tone from the male singers can be dull. The orchestral playing maintains a degree of edge, too, but the strings reveal that this may have been a rather rapid rehearse-record. Perhaps not a masterpiece, but the Voyage is worth a listen.

-- Andrew Mellor, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2018/Mar/Dyson_choral_8573770.htm
https://www.allmusic.com/album/george-dyson-choral-symphony-st-pauls-voyage-to-melita-mw0003113182
https://www.naxos.com/reviews/reviewslist.asp?catalogueid=8.573770&languageid=EN
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dyson-Symphony-Elizabeth-Bournemouth-Orchestra/dp/B075VVPN3R

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George Dyson (28 May 1883 – 28 September 1964) was an English musician and composer. Dyson studied with Hubert Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music, and also spent three years in Italy, Austria and Germany, where he met leading musicians such as Richard Strauss, whose style is believed to have influenced Dyson's early compositions. As a composer Dyson wrote in a traditional idiom, reflecting the influence of his mentors at the Royal College of Music. His works were well known during his lifetime but underwent a period of neglect before being revived in the late 20th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Dyson_(composer)

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David Hill (born on 13 May 1957 in Carlisle, Cumberland, England) is an English conductor and organist. Renowned for his fine musicianship, Hill is widely respected as both a choral and orchestral conductor. He is the the 9th Musical Director of The BBC Singers (since 2007), and Musical Director of The Bach Choir (since 1998). Hill was also Associate Guest conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. His more than 80 recordings, range from the Renaissance to the present day and including many award-winners, can be found on Decca/Argo, Hyperion, Naxos and Virgin Classics labels.
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Hill-David.htm

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