Appreciation by Mary Whittaker

It was a pleasure to welcome Paul Spicer back to Leicester Music Society. Previously, he has shared with us his research for biographies on Herbert Howells and Arthur Bliss: this evening his subject was George Dyson. Paul's choice of recordings demonstrated the wide range of Dyson's music: far more than the choral settings for church music and the recent revivals of his "Canterbury Pilgrims". The number of new commercial recordings available demonstrated a recent re-evaluation of Dyson's compositions.

We learnt that Dyson was also influential in widening the availability of music in mid-C20th Britain, for he was not only a composer, but, as Principal of the Royal College of Music, he was helping to ensure the availability of musicians of high quality. Dyson also encouraged amateur music making through his involvement in creating the National Federation of Music Societies (now Making Music) to enable performances around the country.