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George Dyson

Overview
Available Recordings

Most Popular Works

At the Tabard Inn (3)

Evening Service in D major: Magnificat (4)

In Honour of the City (3)

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Biography

Born: May 28, 1883; Halifax, Yorkshire, England Died: September 28, 1964; Winchester, England

As a composer, George Dyson was almost too talented for his own good. He was sufficiently gifted to write music in a unique style that was also accessible, uplifting, and memorable; but he was also a teacher and administrator, an author, and he devoted much of his time to those activities. Dyson was born in Halifax in 1883 to a working-class family. He was a natural musician with a special affinity for the keyboard and was playing the organ at Read more his church at 13; he became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists three years later. Dyson entered the Royal College of Music at age 16 and in 1904, he won the Mendelssohn Scholarship and spent the next four years studying in Italy, Austria, and Germany. Dyson's early life and training were rooted in the late Romantic era and his early compositions strongly reflected the influence of Richard Strauss, Joseph Joachim, and other turn-of-the century composers. His symphonic poem Siena (now lost) was very Straussian and was performed under the baton of Arthur Nikisch. After returning to England, he devoted much of his attention to teaching, first at the Royal Naval College at Osborne and then at Marlborough College before joining the Army at the outbreak of World War I. During his Army service, Dyson authored a manual on the use of the hand grenade that became standard issue. He was appointed a professor at the Royal College of Music in 1921 and began teaching at Winchester College three years later. It was during this period that Dyson separated himself from the mainstream of English music; a passionate believer in the notion that music had to move forward, he felt that the Brahms-influenced music of Sir Edward Elgar, the folk song-inspired works of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and the Celtic romanticism of Sir Arnold Bax were all remnants of an era that had passed. Dyson abandoned his early compositions -- almost none of which survive -- and pursued teaching and writing during the early '20s. In 1928, Dyson emerged as a significant composer with In Honour of the City, a work for chorus and orchestra built on a series of verses attributed to William Dunbar, dating from the year 1500. The piece displayed a majesty reminiscent of Elgar and Sir Charles Hubert Parry and found immediate public and critical favor; but it was also written in a leaner, more modernistic style than would ever have come from either of those two composers. That piece led him directly to the work that is usually regarded as his crowning achievement, The Canterbury Pilgrims (1931), constructed around the work of Chaucer. Dyson was principally associated with choral music over the next decade, but his Symphony in G (1937) and his violin concerto (1941) gave him considerable credibility as an author of orchestral music, finding favor with audiences and critics. In 1938, Dyson assumed the job of director of the Royal College of Music; a knighthood followed in 1942 and he remained at the RCM for another decade. He continued composing new music in that curious style, modern yet tonal and melodic, right into the early '60s, though by that time even The Canterbury Pilgrims -- his most popular work -- had fallen out of the repertory of England's choral societies. In the mid-'90s, amid the growing interest in English music beyond the orbits of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, Dyson's work was rediscovered. A dozen of his major choral and orchestral works have been recorded by Chandos and other labels specializing in English and church music. Read less

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1.

Hymns to Saint Cecilia / Gough, Royal Holloway Choir

Label: Hyperion Catalog: 68047 Release Date: 11/11/2014 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: James MacMillan, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gabriel Jackson, Bernard Rose ...
Performer: Felicity Lott, Jack Wilde, Sophie [Soprano Vocal] Edwards, James [Tenor (Vocal)] Gallimore ...
Conductor: Rupert Gough
Orchestra/Ensemble: Royal Holloway Choir

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2.

An Ebor Epiphany

Label: Regent Catalog: 391 Release Date: 05/20/2014 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Recorded Sound, Traditional, Charles-Marie Widor, David [Pipe Organ] Briggs ...
Performer: David Pipe, Ben Horden
Conductor: Robert Sharpe

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3.

Dyson: The Canterbury Pilgrims / Hickox, Kenny, Tear, Roberts, London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus

Label: Chandos Catalog: 24143 Release Date: 07/31/2012 Number of Discs: 2
Composer: George Dyson
Performer: Yvonne Kenny, Robert Tear, Stephen Roberts
Conductor: Richard Hickox
Orchestra/Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus
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4.

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee - Royal Music From Westminster Abbey

Label: Griffin Catalog: 4077 Release Date: 05/08/2012 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Henry Purcell, George Frideric Handel, Traditional, Anonymous ...
Conductor: Martin Neary
Orchestra/Ensemble: English Chamber Orchestra, London Brass, Westminster Abbey Choir
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5.

Songs Of Sunshine

Label: Regent Catalog: 343 Release Date: 01/10/2012 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Antonio Vivaldi, John Rutter, Sydney Carter, Franz Biebl ...
Performer: Jonathan Vaughn, Andrew Mahon, Iain Macleod-Jones, Christopher Sheldrake
Conductor: Matthew Owens

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6.

Choral Classics - Choral Classics From Cambridge

Label: Brilliant Classics Catalog: 9234 Release Date: 11/15/2011 Number of Discs: 5
Composer: Giovanni Palestrina, Gregorio Allegri, Robert Ramsey, Thomas Weelkes ...
Performer: Jennifer Ward-Clarke, Jonathan Brown, Elizabeth Kenny, Robert Howes ...
Conductor: Timothy Brown, Stephen Cleobury, Christopher Robinson, Matthew Best
Orchestra/Ensemble: Clare College Choir, Baroque Brass of London, Cambridge King's College Choir ...

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7.

My Spirit Hath Rejoiced / Scott, Dearnley, Choir Of St Paul

Label: Helios Catalog: 55402 Release Date: 06/14/2011 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Tertius Noble, Basil Harwood, Herbert Murill, Harold Edwin Darke ...
Performer: Christopher Dearnley, George Pooley, Peter Hall, Nigel Bevan ...
Conductor: John Scott
Orchestra/Ensemble: St. Paul's Cathedral Choir
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8.

The Winchester Tradition / Malcolm Archer, Winchester College Chapel Choir

Label: Regent Catalog: 331 Release Date: 04/12/2011 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Samuel Sebastian Wesley, Thomas Weelkes, George Dyson, Malcolm Archer ...
Performer: Paul Provost
Conductor: Malcolm Archer
Orchestra/Ensemble: Winchester College Chapel Choir
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9.

Great European Organs No. 80

Label: Priory Records Catalog: 1029 Release Date: 03/09/2010 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Sir Edward Elgar, Peter Dyke, Harold Drake, George Dyson
Performer: Peter Dyke

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10.

Evensong For St Swithin's Day

Label: Herald Records Catalog: 297 Release Date: 10/11/2008
Composer: Alwyn Surplice, Marcel Dupré, Philip Moore, Edward Bairstow ...
Performer: Sarah Baldock
Conductor: Andrew Lumsden
Orchestra/Ensemble: Winchester Cathedral Choir

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11.

Gibbs: Odysseus; Dyson: Four Songs For Sailors / Drummond, Gritton, Stone

Label: Dutton Laboratories/Vocalion Catalog: 7201 Release Date: 07/08/2008 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, George Dyson
Performer: Susan Gritton, Mark Stone
Conductor: David Drummond
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Concert Orchestra, London Oriana Choir
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12.

Evensong From Exeter Cathedral - Bruckner, Harris, Etc / Nethsingha, Morgan, Exeter Cathedral Choir

Label: Priory Records Catalog: 112 Release Date: 06/17/2008 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: George Dyson, William Henry Harris, Edward Bairstow, Charles Hubert Parry ...
Performer: Paul Morgan
Conductor: Lucian Nethsingha
Orchestra/Ensemble: Exeter Cathedral Choir

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13.

To Music / Chamber Choir Of Birmingham Conservatoire

Label: Regent Catalog: 274 Release Date: 06/13/2008 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Kenneth Leighton, Paul Spicer, Gustav Holst, John Joubert ...
Performer: David Saint
Conductor: Paul Spicer
Orchestra/Ensemble: Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir
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14.

English Idyll / Julian Lloyd Webber, Sir Neville Marriner

Label: Philips Catalog: 442530 Release Date: 02/21/2008 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sir Edward Elgar, Frederick Delius, Percy Aldridge Grainger ...
Performer: Julian Lloyd Webber, John Birch, John Lenehan
Conductor: Sir Neville Marriner
Orchestra/Ensemble: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
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15.

Sea Fever / Yates, Williams, Bbc Concert Orchestra, Et Al

Label: Dutton Laboratories/Vocalion Catalog: 7199 Release Date: 01/08/2008 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Edgar Bainton, John Ireland, Rutland Boughton, George Dyson ...
Performer: Ailish Tynan, Roderick Williams
Conductor: Martin Yates
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Concert Orchestra

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16.

Dyson: Nebuchadnezzar / Padmore, Hickox

Label: Chandos Catalog: 10439 Release Date: 11/06/2007 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: George Dyson
Performer: Mark Padmore, Neal Davies
Conductor: Richard Hickox
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra
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17.

English Concert Music - Adams / Colin Wright

Label: Priory Records Catalog: 810 Release Date: 08/21/2007 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Thomas Adams, Matthias Hawdon, Matthew Camidge, William Walond ...
Performer: Colin Wright

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18.

Children's Cello - Mendelssohn, Etc / Isserlis, Hough

Label: Bis Catalog: 1562 Release Date: 05/23/2006 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: Gabriel Fauré, Gaspar Cassadó, Stephen Isserlis, Ludwig Lebell ...
Performer: Steven Isserlis, Stephen Hough, Simon Callow

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19.

Te Deum And Jubilate - Stanford, Et Al / Sayer, Et Al

Label: Priory Records Catalog: 934 Release Date: 03/28/2006 Number of Discs: 4
Composer: Sir William Walton, Charles Villiers Stanford, John Hopkins, Philip Wilby ...
Performer: David Wells-Cole, Andrew Bryden, Geraint Bowen, Roger Sayer ...
Conductor: Kerry Beaumont, Roy Massey, Barry Ferguson, Michael Nicholas
Orchestra/Ensemble: Ripon Cathedral Choir, Hereford Cathedral Choir, Rochester Cathedral Choir ...

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20.

Dyson: Violin Concerto, Etc / Hickox

Label: Chandos Catalog: 10337 Release Date: 10/18/2005 Number of Discs: 2
Composer: George Dyson
Performer: Eric Parkin, Lydia Mordkovitch
Conductor: Richard Hickox
Orchestra/Ensemble: City of London Sinfonia
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21.

Dyson: Symphony In G Major, Etc / Lloyd-jones, Et Al

Label: Naxos Catalog: 8557720 Release Date: 09/20/2005 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: George Dyson
Performer: Duncan Riddell, Helen Cox, Stuart Green, Timothy Walden
Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones
Orchestra/Ensemble: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
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22.

Dyson: Symphony In G / Hickox, City Of London Sinfonia

Label: Chandos Catalog: 10308 Release Date: 05/24/2005 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: George Dyson
Conductor: Richard Hickox
Orchestra/Ensemble: City of London Sinfonia, London Symphony Orchestra

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23.

Bear Essentials - Lullaby Classics

Label: Chandos Catalog: 24116 Release Date: 08/24/2004 Number of Discs: 2
Composer: Sir William Walton, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Agustín Barrios Mangoré, Claude Debussy ...

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24.

George Dyson: St. Paul's Voyage To Melita; Agincourt

Label: Somm Catalog: 234 Release Date: 10/21/2003 Number of Discs: 1
Composer: George Dyson
Performer: Neil Mackie, Osian Ellis, Jane Watts
Conductor: Vernon Handley, Sir David Willcocks

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25.

Dyson: Quo Vadis / Hickox, Barker, Langridge, Rigby, Et Al

Label: Chandos Catalog: 10061 Release Date: 05/20/2003 Number of Discs: 2
Composer: George Dyson
Performer: Cheryl Barker, Jean Rigby, Philip Langridge, Roderick Williams
Conductor: Richard Hickox
Orchestra/Ensemble: BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC National Chorus of Wales, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama Chamber Choir

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