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1 - ‘A Veritable Muck-Midden’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2014

Paul Spicer
Affiliation:
Composition student of Herbert Howells, whose biography he wrote in 1998. He is well-known as a choral conductor especially of British Music of the twentieth century onwards, a writer, composer, teacher, and producer
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Summary

If only your respected parent-in-law [Albert Sammons] would not have wasted so much time over such stuff as Sir G Dyson's Concerto! (For God's sake don't repeat this to him, or if you do don't say I said it.) But he has recently been playing it all over the place. … Why? If it were Walton's or the Bloch or Bartok I could understand it and applaud it … but Dyson! – words fail me!!

E. J. Moeran wrote these blistering words to his friend Lionel Hill on 16 January 1945. Dyson's general dismissal as a composer has been a common cry over the last fifty or sixty years. Very little of his music has held its place in the repertory. Of all his output only The Canterbury Pilgrims and the two sets of evening canticles in D and F for the Anglican liturgy of Choral Evensong are performed with any regularity. Thus it is important not only to record what was by any standards a remarkable life, but to rehabilitate Dyson's reputation and stir the embers of public interest in a wideranging list of works which are lyrical, passionate and engaging. At the core of his output lie major choral and orchestral compositions, a dramatic symphony, an outstandingly beautiful violin concerto, two balancing concertos for string orchestra, a ravishing, intimate piano concerto and much more besides.

Type
Chapter
Information
Sir George Dyson
His Life and Music
, pp. 1 - 14
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2014

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  • ‘A Veritable Muck-Midden’
  • Paul Spicer, Composition student of Herbert Howells, whose biography he wrote in 1998. He is well-known as a choral conductor especially of British Music of the twentieth century onwards, a writer, composer, teacher, and producer
  • Book: Sir George Dyson
  • Online publication: 05 November 2014
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • ‘A Veritable Muck-Midden’
  • Paul Spicer, Composition student of Herbert Howells, whose biography he wrote in 1998. He is well-known as a choral conductor especially of British Music of the twentieth century onwards, a writer, composer, teacher, and producer
  • Book: Sir George Dyson
  • Online publication: 05 November 2014
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • ‘A Veritable Muck-Midden’
  • Paul Spicer, Composition student of Herbert Howells, whose biography he wrote in 1998. He is well-known as a choral conductor especially of British Music of the twentieth century onwards, a writer, composer, teacher, and producer
  • Book: Sir George Dyson
  • Online publication: 05 November 2014
Available formats
×