George Dyson: "Hierusalem", Valery Hill, soprano.

George Dyson (1883-1964)

Hierusalem: Hymn for soprano solo, chorus, solo string quartet and string orchestra, with harp and organ.

Valery Hill, soprano.
St. Michael's Singers
Thomas Trotter, organ.
Royal Philhamonic Orchestra
Jonathan Rennert, conductor, organ soloist.
1983

Hierusalem, my happy home,
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end?
Thy joys when shall I see?

O happy harbour of the saints,
O sweet and pleasant soil!
In thee no sorrow may be found,
No grief, no care, no toil.

Thy walls are made of precious stones,
Thy bulwarks diamonds square;
Thy gates are of right orient pearl,
Exceeding rich and rare.

Thy houses are of ivory,
Thy windows crystal clear;
Thy tiles are made of beaten gold --
O God that I were there!

Thy vineyards and thy orchards are
Most beautiful and fair,
Full furnished with trees and fruits
Most wonderful and rare;

Thy gardens and thy gallant walks
Continually are green;
There grow such sweet and pleasant flowers
As nowhere else are seen.

Quiet through the streets with silver sound
The flood of life doth flow,
Upon whose banks on every side
The wood of life doth grow.

There trees for evermore bear fruit
And evermore do spring;
There evermore the angels sit
And evermore do sing.

Hierusalem, my happy home,
When shall I come to thee?
When shall my sorrows have an end?
Thy joys when shall I see?

Thy saints are crowned with glory great;
They see God face to face;
They triumph still, they still rejoice:
Most happy is their case.

There David stands with harp in hand
As master of the choir;
Ten thousand times that man were blest
That might this music hear.

Our Lady sings Magnificat
With tune surpassing sweet;
And all the virgins bear their parts,
Sitting about her feet.

Te Deum doth Saint Ambrose sing,
Saint Austin doth the like;
Old Simeon and Zachary
Have not their songs to seek.
-

Category:

Music

Tags:

• george
• dyson
• valery
• hill
• hierusalem
• jerusalem
• hymn
• organ
• operazaile

[dwsolo]

I sang alto in the choir in this recording. I lost my copy of the CD so it's a lovely blast from the past to hear it here. It was an amazing day of recording. Strange to tell, when we recorded we had a different soprano (I forget her name), who was not good enough and so Valery recorded the solo afterwards: the sound engineers did an amazing job of integrating the two recordings.

[robwil23]

Many thanks for this wonderful piece. The choir in which I sing 2nd bass has just begun to rehearse it. Very helpful to have this recording to listen to and your pictures are well chosen, the Chagal very apt. Was Dyson Jewish, I wonder?

[dtolbiac]

Merci,

En retrouvant vos plus anciens Liederkreis de Schumann par Régine Crespin (sublime), je découvre d'hier 25 décembre 2010 ce Hierusalem du compositeur anglais George Dyson.

Quelle œuvre, quelle beauté, quelle interprétation, quelles voix, quelle illustration !

J'en suis tout bouleversé...

[Memale2009]

Keine Aufrufe. Ich fasse es nicht. Et moi, je suis tellement émue, comme toujours. Ich fasse es nicht. Es ist Weihnachten. Die Klagemauer. Pourquoi pas. Il y a tant de plaintes qui s'émanent de l'humanité entière. Jerusalem, le centre de trois religions mondiales: de l'islam, de le religion juive et chrétienne, toutes réunies sous le toit du Felsendom. Oui, vous avez raison: il faudrait mettre le doigt sur les racines communes de nos religions, de nos convictions, sur le message de noel