Nebuchadnezzar / Woodland Suite / etc

"Enthusiasts for the festive yet idiosyncratic mainstream of British choral music need look no further."
(MusicWeb April 2008)

This is the premiere recording of Nebuchadnezzar, it is extraordinary that such an important and remarkable work has never been recorded.

Also on this disc is the premiere recording of Woodland Suite, and first recording of the Three Songs of Praise in the version with orchestral accompaniment (only a version with organ accompaniment has been available previously)

Hickox is a long-time champion of Dyson's orchestral works.

Composed in 1935 for the Worcester Festival, Dyson's post-romantic work is dramatic, sumptuous, and richly melodic, recalling the work of Vaughan Williams, Howells and Bliss. Dyson achieved his greatest popularity in England during the 1930s and 1940s with large-scale pieces for chorus and orchestra such as In Honour of the City, The Canterbury Pilgrims and Nebuchadnezzar. Sadly, his work faded from view after 1950, but by the end of the century was being rediscovered by a new generation of audiences and performers.

After returning from several years of studies and travel in Europe in 1907, Dyson, thanks to Sir Hubert Parry, became the first Director of Music of the Royal Naval College, Osborne. The outbreak of World War I, however, had a profound effect on him. He left his post and enlisted. After a period of distinguished but shattering service in the trenches he was invalided out. He returned to the Royal College of Music, shaken and transformed. Fortunately, he recovered and after 1918 his career resumed almost where he had left it on the outbreak of war. In 1924 he was appointed head of the music department at Winchester College and it was during the ensuing years that he began writing the choral works that would make him famous.

Dyson took the text for Nebuchadnezzar from the Book of Daniel, incorporating the 'Song of the Three Holy Children' from the Apocrypha. Emulating Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, Dyson set the story in four parts. In the first three the music tells the well-known biblical story of the Jews Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the burning fiery furnace, while the fourth is a more conventional hymn of praise, 'All the works of the Lord, Bless Ye the Lord' - the Benedicite. The tenor Mark Padmore sings the Herald, and Nebuchadnezzar is sung by the bass-baritone Neal Davies.

This superb performance further demonstrates Richard Hickox's understanding for Dyson and follows The Canterbury Pilgrims and Quo Vadis in the Chandos discography.