George Dyson: Primrose Mount

Sir George Dyson (1883-1964) was a leading British musician of the earlier part of the 20th century. Educated at the Royal College of Music, he eventually became its director (1937-52) and was knighted in 1941. His best-known work is his large-scale 1930 choral piece 'The Canterbury Pilgrims' based on the General Prologue to Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales'. 'Primrose Mount' was published in 1928, and the piano writing in this short piano piece is reminiscent of that of his contemporaries John Ireland and York Bowen.

For more information on Dyson, his works and recordings, see the Sir George Dyson Trust webpage at:
http://www.impulse-music.co.uk/georgedysontrust.htm

[Note: for anyone with the score, the LH Bb and C in first bar, third line on page 5 should be two crotchets, not dotted crotchet+quaver as I play them in this take - but I hope the effect of this on the performance is minimal!]
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Played by Phillip Sear
http://www.psear.co.uk

Category:

Music

Tags:

• piano
• classical
• British
• England

[rbob200]

one word describes my feelings for this music--amazement!

wonderful, Phillip.

[PSearPianist]

@rbob200 Thank you for that!

[dave12122]

I thought this was a thoughtful performance, recorded a bit loudly. The piece is not one of the composer's strongest, being a bit reminiscent of watered down Ireland. I prefer Hierusalem and the great choral works.

[PSearPianist]

@dave12122 Thank you for that - sorry about the loud recording, which is not usually a problem. Dyson is certainly not best known for his piano music.

[Finistereny]

Thanks for posting your performance of this appealing music, which I hadn't heard previously.

"Canterbury Pilgrims" is a great choral work, familiar to me only by the Chandos recording, and you can well imagine that Dyson's compositions are almost completely unknown in the USA, as is the case with most British music excepting a handful of Britten and Vaughan Williams pieces.

Please post more videos like this to help fill our void. And BTW, Dyson's life is fascinating, from beginning to end.

[PSearPianist]

Thanks for your interesting comment! I am certainly intending to play some more little-known British music. I have done some videos of pieces by Cyril Scott, Harry Farjeon, Paul Corder, York Bowen and other contemporaries of Dyson. To give the US a credit, I have seen some excellent performances from your compatriots recently of works by British composer Rebecca Clarke and Madeleine Dring, that are pretty neglected in their home country!

[PSearPianist]

Thank you - it does indeed!

[Babejuda]

Very delicate piece and beautiful playing. Does "primrose" means the yellow flower of the spring?

[PSearPianist]

Thanks - it's a good piece.

[qjgwhw]

nice !!!  :D