George Dyson's Nebuchadnezzar is no Belshazzar's Feast, nor does it really try to be. Though also an English oratorio based on and named after the same Babylonian king as
Walton's work (Nebuchadnezzar, it turns out, is another name for Belshazzar), Dyson's work is less confrontational and aggressive than
Walton's. Or, to put it another way, Dyson's Nebuchadnezzar, composed in 1934 and premiered in 1935, is much more of an old-fashioned English Romantic oratorio along the lines of
Elgar's The Apostles than it is a new-fangled English modernist oratorio along the lines of
Bliss' Morning Heroes. Big, strong-willed, and deeply devotional, Dyson's oratorio is tonal with traces of chromaticism, dramatic with moments of lyrical reflection, brilliantly colorful but by no means garish, and very formal but not slavishly so. In this excellent 2007 world-premiere recording performed with passionate professionalism by
Richard Hickox leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus with tenor
Mark Padmore and bass-baritone
Neal Davies, Nebuchadnezzar is given the opportunity to return to the repertoire; only time will tell if it actually happens. Also included here are world-premiere recordings of two more Dyson works -- the charmingly pastoral Woodland Suite for strings and solo winds and the massively monumental Three Songs of Praise for chorus plus strings, two trumpets, three trombones, and two timpani -- as well as two works for chorus and orchestra already known to devoted Dyson aficionados from previous recordings -- O Praise God in His Holiness (Psalm 150) and Confortare (Be strong and of a good courage).