Harmony

Today, I listened to the magnificent Magnificat setting by George Dyson. Dyson in D was the final setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis setting I sung as a chorister in April, 1969.

I was struck by the harmony, structure and word-setting of a composer who clearly knew what they were doing. The melodic sequences and climactic points of arrival are striking:

https://youtu.be/3FIBzqM94tk

Accidently - or maybe not - You Tube took me to a more contemporary setting of a Latin text. In comparison with the Dyson, this failed primarily through the use of trendy rhythmic devices conveying machine-gun fire. Or so it seemed.

How much has been lost through modernism, postmodernism and the new composition teaching at international universities and conservatoires and a media bent on promotion of the fashionable?

Bearing all this in mind, the new Piano Sextet continues to develop.