The music of George Dyson is admittedly rather variable. His Canterbury Pilgrims is relatively well-known, and deservedly so, but it is not entirely representative of his output. He also seems to have struggled to find a particularly personal voice - there are some individual touches in the music on this disc, for instance, but the main work, Hierusalem, is heavily indebted to Vaughan Williams in "mysterious mode" (Pilgrim's Progress, Sancta Civitas).
Another feature to point out with respect to the disc at hand is that the Three Songs of Praise, the Three Choral Hymns, and the brief Praise God in His Holiness, are - as the titles suggest - straightforward choral hymns conforming to the conventions of liturgical music. They are well made, of course, and some of the melodies verge on the memorable, but such music is nevertheless probably not going to appeal to everyone, regardless of the advocacy it receives from the St. Michael's Singers.
The Fantasia and Ground Bass is a sixteen-minute organ work, and shows that Dyson knew how to write for the instrument - and one cannot complain about Thomas Trotter's playing here either. But I found the music to be rather boring and unmemorable - maybe fans of British organ repertoire will hear things I don't, but if this is not your field of specialty I would probably recommend approaching it with some caution.
The title work is a different matter. Hierusalem is scored for soprano, chorus, strings, harp and organ, and is a beautiful work that will be sure to appeal to everyone who enjoys the aforementioned Vaughan Williams works. The thematic material is good, if not very individual, and there are passages of wonderfully evocative atmosphere. However, the movements are relatively short, and Dyson is not able to tie them together so as to sustain the magic or achieve any cumulative impact. It is superbly performed, of course, and the presentation and sound is good (though the choral sound is not always ideally transparent). Overall, however, this release is in the end mostly for specialists or particular fans of the British choral tradition.
