As far as I’m concerned this reissue in the Chandos Hickox
Legacy series is especially timely. I bought this fine pioneering
recording when it first came out in 1997 and recently had occasion
to listen to it again particularly closely in preparation for
reviewing
an extremely rare live performance ofThe Canterbury Pilgrims
at the 2012 Three Choirs Festival.
George Dyson was indeed a self-made man who rose from humble
working class origins in the Yorkshire town of Halifax to secure
a place at the Royal College of Music at the age of seventeen,
becoming a Stanford pupil. Later, after time studying in Europe,
he spent the years 1907-1937, apart from war service, teaching
at an increasingly prestigious succession of English public
schools before leaving the last of these, Winchester College,
to become director of his alma mater, the Royal College of Music,
which post he occupied until 1952.
The Canterbury Pilgrims used to be a great favourite
with British choral societies and that’s not hard to understand
because, as Ray Siese writes in one of the two booklet notes,
“this music sprang from a deep conviction as to the practical
needs of the English choral movement. Dyson was concerned about
the increasing domination of the repertoire by music of the
past and he recognised that major English works, such as Vaughan
Williams’s A Sea Symphony and Delius’s Mass
of Life were beyond most societies.” The choral writing
in The Canterbury Pilgrims, though it clearly has its
challenging moments, is not as consistently demanding asA
Sea Symphony, of which it contains several echoes - I can’t
speak for the Delius work, since I’ve never sung it. Dyson’s
practicality went further, however. Though his work is scored
for a large orchestra of double wind, full brass, timpani, percussion,
harp and organ (both ad lib) and strings the vocal score
contains detailed guidance as to how several of the brass instruments
may be omitted, their parts being cued for other instruments,
without harming the scoring. Nonetheless, like so many other
works of its time, The Canterbury Pilgrims fell into
neglect after the 1950s. I was amused to note that in a Gramophone
review of this recording when it was first issued Edward Greenfield
made the not unreasonable assumption that the work was “a
favourite at Three Choirs Festivals in the 1930s”. Not
so! Even at that bastion of the English choral tradition the
work was not performed until 2012.
I don’t quite understand why the work faded from the repertoire
since it is so colourful, tuneful and attractive. Perhaps Chaucer’s
words, which are not straightforward, have proved an obstacle
to amateur choirs; if so, the fact that Dyson’s word underlay
is sometimes a little unexpected may not have helped either.
However, it was evident to me at the Three Choirs Festival performance
this year that the audience loved it - and Three Choirs audiences
are by no means as conservative as some people believe. Not
only that but I know from talking to choir members that they
thoroughly enjoyed learning and performing the piece. WhetherThe
Canterbury Pilgrims will ever regain a place in the repertoire
must be questionable but its cause can only be helped by the
presence in the catalogue of this exceptionally fine recording.
Dyson casts the work in thirteen sections including a Prologue
and Envoi; the remaining eleven sections are all portraits of
pilgrims as depicted by Chaucer. Three soloists are used and
in this particular trio one is outstanding, namely Robert Tear.
I’ve not always been the greatest admirer of this singer
but here his singing gives consistent pleasure. I appreciated
very much his lightness of tone and clarity of diction and,
above all, the sense of narrative that he brings to his solos.
For instance, he delivers ‘The Knight’ (section
III) with a genuine twinkle in his eye. Later he’s excellent
at illustrating the prosperous men of commerce, ‘The Haberdasher
and his Fraternity’ (section VII). Best of all, perhaps,
he’s really characterful in ‘The Doctor of Physic’
(section X) where Dyson writes some strange, exotic music, imaginatively
orchestrated, to illustrate what in medieval times was held
by many to be the mystery - sorcery, even - of medicine. Fittingly,
after such an impressive performance as Tear’s, Dyson
gives the very last word to his tenor and in this performance
his instruction that the singer should be “getting gradually
more distant” is obeyed - to excellent effect.
Soprano Yvonne Kenny also does well. Her tone is most attractive
in ‘The Nun’ (section IV). She presents a characterful
portrayal of Chaucer’s Prioress who is surely more enamoured
of some of the good things of life and the ways of the world
than perhaps she should be. The delightful delicate accompaniment
is played with great finesse by the LSO. Towards the end of
the work Miss Kenny is vivacious and vivid in introducing us
to ‘The Wife of Bath’ (section XI).
I’m not quite as impressed with Stephen Roberts who sounds
to me to be less characterful and interesting than his two colleagues.
In ‘The Monk’ his tone sounds a bit thin at times
and I don’t feel he brings to life the character of this
worldly hunting enthusiast. In ‘The Sergeant of the Law’
(section VIII) I feel the music needs a voice of greater amplitude
- especially at the bottom - than Roberts appears to possess.
In his notes Lewis Foreman draws our attention to the fact that
Dyson describes the work as scored “for Chorus, Orchestra
& Three Soloists”. Foreman obviously believes that
this is no accident and points out that the piece “is
certainly given much of its momentum and swagger by the dramatic
and effective choral writing.” I’m sure he’s
right and, happily, the LSO Chorus is in superb form. They sing
their extensive contribution to the work with evident relish,
making the most of the climaxes and articulating the rhythms
with crisp precision. The scholarly and rather dry ‘Clerk
of Oxenford’ (section VI) is depicted through a deliberately
academic choral fugue which the choir sings very well. ‘The
Shipman’ finds them strong and confident, delivering this
portrait with excellent vigour. Every time the chorus is involved
they’re excellent whether they’re called upon to
sing lustily or with delicacy.
Richard Hickox conducts splendidly, displaying great commitment
to the score and enthusing his performers. The LSO plays superbly
for him and the excellent Chandos recording brings out the often-teeming
detail of the score; the engineers have produced a recording
of punch and presence, ideal for this colourful music.
In 1934 Dyson wrote an overture which he entitled At the
Tabard Inn, naming it after the Southwark inn where Chaucer’s
pilgrims foregathered. It uses material from The Canterbury
Pilgrims andcan be played as a self-contained concert
piece. Alternatively it can function as an overture to the cantata
itself. In that case the first 52 bars of the cantata’s
Prologue (to cue 2) are omitted - some 0:52 of music. Very helpfully,
Chandos track separately the bars that are omitted if the cantata
is performed in this way so that listeners can follow either
option; that’s a really imaginative idea. It works well
though, in practice I think that adding the overture to a ninety-minute
cantata is perhaps a little too much of a good thing. At
the Tabard Inn is a most attractive and colourful score
and hearing it in Hickox’s ebullient reading makes me
wonder why we don’t hear it more often.
To complete the set Chandos give us a substantial “makeweight”
in the shape of Dyson’s short work for chorus and orchestra,
In Honour of the City. This was Dyson’s first significant
choral work and in it he set, in an English translation, the
poem by the Scots poet, William Dunbar (1465?-1515?). Dyson
sets five of the seven stanzas; when Walton wrote his piece
In Honour of the City of London (1937) he set more of
the text and used Dunbar’s original words. As you might
expect, given that the works are only two years apart from each
other, In Honour of the City bears many similarities
to The Canterbury Pilgrims. It’s a very enjoyable
work and, like everything else on this pair of discs, it’s
performed with splendid enthusiasm and skill.
As I’ve indicated already, the recorded sound is fully
up to the usual very high Chandos standards. The documentation
is also excellent: Lewis Foreman’s note is superbly informative
and readable. The notes also come in French and German translations
but unlike the original issue, this time the texts are only
provided in English.
This is a splendid set, containing some hugely enjoyable music
in first rate performances. Anyone who responds positively to
the English Choral Tradition should love this!
John Quinn
see also review by Rob
Barnett
Yvonne Kenny (soprano); Robert Tear (tenor); Stephen Roberts (baritone)
