CE Winchester College Wed, 1st October 2014

[DracoM]

Now available on iPlayer.

[ardcarp]

I enjoyed the CE too. I did feel like Draco, that parts were

occasionally unbalanced against the organ on air.

I didn't know the Dyson introit or anthem, though his canticles in D are probably among the most frequently occurring set on music lists. I have got into trouble in the past for being less than kind to some of the old favourites of the repertory, so am about to tread carefully. Having listened to nearly all of Dyson as Composer of the Week, I came to the sad conclusion that his oeuvres are just a bit 'ordinary'. He was clearly a craftsman of the highest order, diligent, hard-working, high-achieving, a brilliant and probably inspired educator, and an all-round good egg. It was most fitting that Wnichester College should celebrate one of its staff alumni.

Maybe 'greatness' is something that eluded him.

[mw963]

As someone who does enjoy the "old favourites" I actually think that what you have written about Dyson is pretty fair. One can have too much of a good thing (although I didn't hear This Week's Composer and will try and download the progs if my slow connection will let me). I once recorded "Thou Wilt Keep Him" for a choir and became heartily sick of it after a few tries. Having said that I did enjoy Winchester College and the world would be a poorer place without Mr Dyson.

As far as I can tell the story about blown fuses - whilst elegant and indeed hilarious for its connection to Dyson - is a little fanciful. The lack of a live broadcast was apparently down - as is normally the case - to lines that failed to live up to expectations as the deadline approached.

[DracoM]

Yes, that CE was a pretty decent snapshot of Dyson. Have to say that I thought some of he orchestral stuff we heard in COTW was maybe a bit better than ordinary, and his influence in the education of musicians of many ages has to be undeniable.

Thanks to Malcolm Archer / Winchester College choristers and the BBC Radio 3 Choral Evensong team for putting this together.

[Op. XXXIX]

I didn't know the Dyson introit or anthem, though his canticles in D are probably among the most frequently occurring set on music lists. I have got into trouble in the past for being less than kind to some of the old favourites of the repertory, so am about to tread carefully. Having listened to nearly all of Dyson as Composer of the Week, I came to the sad conclusion that his oeuvres are just a bit 'ordinary'. He was clearly a craftsman of the highest order, diligent, hard-working, high-achieving, a brilliant and probably inspired educator, and an all-round good egg. It was most fitting that Winchester College should celebrate one of its staff alumni.

Finally got to hear the Winchester service. Was certainly worth the wait. I would be inclined to agree with ardcarp's post above, though Dyson's The Canterbury Pilgrims repays more than a casual listen, IMO.

Perhaps of interest to folks here, the 1932 revision of the Christian Science Hymnal contains three tunes by Dyson -Elgin, Atkey, Frainsby- of which the first two are frequently sung in CS churches. (They are very fine.) AFAIK, they do not appear in any other hymnal, and I suspect they were commissioned from headquarters in Boston, MA.

As of course were tunes by Harwood, Walford Davies and Thalben-Ball, none of which are in the NEH.

Edit: the 1932 CS Hymnal has a rather athletic -for the pedals- reharmonization of Lauda Anima by Thalben-Ball, presumably because the original sounded too 'Anglican'!

[Thomas Kelway]

Could it be possible that the BBC got two venues confused? After all they are not that far apart.

[Miles Coverdale]

Could it be possible that the BBC got two venues confused? After all they are not that far apart.

The service got recorded, so presumably they found the chapel.

[Wolsey]

Could it be possible that the BBC got two venues confused? After all they are not that far apart.

Well, they certainly weren't at the Cathedral when I was there that afternoon.

[underthecountertenor]

Could it be possible that the BBC got two venues confused? After all they are not that far apart.

A suggestion so absurd that I can only hope that it was made tongue-in-cheek.

[mw963]

You say that (absurd suggestion) but Cormac Rigby used to relate a hilarious story of how Victor Hallam set off from Broadcasting House late one afternoon in order to announce a concert from the Royal Albert Hall. Arriving in plenty of time he was surprised that the venue seemed somewhat quiet, but letting himself in via the artists' entrance he found his way to the announcer's position, puzzling as he went that not many of the lights seemed to have been switched on and that the orchestra seemed to be cutting it a bit fine....

Eventually (from what I remember) he realised that something might be amiss at around seven o'clock, and found a payphone and rang R3 Pres. Now of course in those days panic was a word unknown to the team, and Cormac calmly fetched his car from the car park under the BH extension and drove to the *actual* venue (the Festival Hall) - arriving with a few minutes to spare in order calmly to introduce the concert at seven-thirty.

Can't see today's bunch of over-excited school-children masquerading as "presenters" managing to handle a situation with such aplomb, although I daresay that the initial mistake probably wouldn't happen nowadays.....

(Cormac also related another story involving himself and Victor (a delightful man if a little accident-prone). They were both in Cormac's car driving to a London concert and were involved in a minor crash at Hyde Park Corner. Victor turned to Cormac and uttered the immortal words "Bad luck dear, such bad luck")

[mw963]

I'm feeling a complete twerp with regard to a posting I made further up, the "Thou wilt keep him" of which I became heartily sickened was of course by Sumsion, poor Mr Dyson was completely innocent. I do apologise.