Dyson: Nebuchadnezzar; Two Coronation Anthems; Three Songs of Praise; Woodland Suite [CD]

This large-scale, 48 minute choral work was composed a couple of years after Walton's take on the Book of Daniel story of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, and included the Song of the Three Holy Children. According to excellent notes by Lewis Foreman, Dyson must have known of the Walton piece because it was such a big hit. While Stanford also wrote an oratorio on the subject, it disappeared after its debut, unlike Belshazaar's Feast, which has never left the repertoire. And Nebuchadnezzar does sound a lot like its predecessor. Since I was hoping this premiere recording would sound more like Dyson's Agincourt, Sweet Thames Run Softly, The Canterbury Pilgrims and Quo Vadis, I was slightly disappointed. I have never cared for the Walton work, but if you do, this version of the story is similarly dramatic, and you would probably want to give this a try.

For the rest of the disc, the Woodland Suite is a charming little piece of only 7 minutes length. The Three Songs of Praise are wonderful, and I wish one of the many amateur choirs in the Seattle area would perform them. Two Coronation Anthems round out a nice disc. If you're not familiar with Dyson's music, you may want to start with the masterpiece Canterbury Pilgrims on the Chandos label that's coupled with In Honour of the City, another fantastic and underrated choral gem. And Sweet Thames Run Softly, set to Spenser's poetry, and Hierusalem are too little known in choral circles. Instead of one more Mozart Requiem and Mendelssohn Elijah, I would dearly love to hear one of these Dyson treasures performed by someone like Seattle Choral Company or Karen Thomas' Pro Musica, maybe the Tudor Choir. So only 3 stars for me, but recommended if you're fond of the Walton Belshazaar's Feast.

George Dyson (1883-1964) has been relatively well served on disc the last decade and a half or so. He was a contemporary of Bax, among others, but his music seems to be cast in the mold of Bantock and Elgar more than his contemporary - it is all pitched at a slightly lower level of energy and invention than any of them, however. Dyson's music is for the most part worthy more than inspired, and I can, to be honest, think of composers equally worthy of a fraction of the revival Dyson's music has received. He wrote much choral music and choral and orchestral music, always sturdy and solid and Victorian in sound, but exhibiting a certain ability on the part of the composer to write well for the voice.

Nebuchadnezzar is one of Dyson's many substantial works for soloists, chorus and orchestra. It is relatively conservative in idiom (though there might be traces of Walton's near-contemporaneous Belshazzar's Feast). If you think 47 minutes of worthy, Victorian, dour Old Testament setting might be too much of a not-too-good thing, you may very well be right. There are some good things in Nebuchadnezzar, for sure - mostly some skillful vocal writing - but there isn't a single memorable theme and the whole thing is moving along at a dangerously slow pace. It is, to be honest, a rather taxing experience of dreary blandness; only occasionally in part II do you ever get the feeling that the music is moving towards anything. But how I wish some of the more interesting unknown music out there could receive performances and recordings like this one. The soloists are good; the orchestral playing splendid, and there is no doubt that Hickox presents the best possible advocacy for a cause that is unfortunately lost.

The most interesting thing on the disc, however, is the wonderfully atmospheric, small Woodland Suite - gentle and gossamer light but beautifully colorful and shaded. The other, short pieces that fill out the disc are eminently forgettable. But everything is very well played and recorded, and while the music here (maybe apart from the Woodland Suite) cannot honestly be termed interesting or particularly attractive, the glorious presentation makes me unwilling to dismiss it completely. If you are interested in Dyson's music, go for the symphony or The Canterbury Pilgrims, but even if you like what you hear there, it is not obvious that the disc at hand is one that needs to be added to your collection.