David Lyon (b01/01/1938)

The first substantial result of this was setting of poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Other works from this period include the String Quartet, Three Miniatures for Flute and Piano (his first student wok and still in print), sonatas for viola and clarinet and the one-movement Piano Concerto (which won the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize in 1964). During the next ten years or so, David Lyon concentrated mainly on producing orchestral pieces suitable for the BBC’s light music programmes. These include the prize-winning Divertimento for Small Orchestra, Dance Prelude, the overture Joie de vivre, Short Suite for Strings, and five of the pieces recorded here. However, he also continued to write considerable quantities of music in other categories — chamber, vocal and orchestral — including a set of Variations for large orchestra. In 1973 he was asked to contribute to the Association Board New Wind Music series, and such miniatures as Toccatina for oboe and Almost a Waltz for clarinet have subsequently become widely familiar among wind players. In 1975 he received a commission from the Coventry Schools’ Music Association for a youth opera The Reckoning (based on Everyman) which encouraged him to expand his activity both into music theatre and into youth music generally.

In 1978, having become interested in adult education, David Lyon took the opportunity to study for music degree at Bristol University. This return to full-time student life proved stimulating and disconcerting in equal measure, but resulted in a thesis on the symphonies of Franz Berwald and a composition portfolio that included Ballet for Orchestra and a single-movement violin sonata, subsequently heavily amended and re-titled Duologue. Since the mid-1980s, most of his works have been designed for school or amateur performance, involving voices in one form or another. These include a series of ‘audience adventures’ for children, written in collaboration with the novelist and theatre director Teresa Collard. Game, Snakes and Ladders and The Battle of Trafalgar have received frequent performances, the latter being televised in 1983. In 1998 he realized a long-standing ambition of writing a stage musical with an adaptation of a radio play by Tom Stoppard, Albert’s Bridge. He also pursues an active career as a jazz pianist, both as a solo entertainer and with his own trio.

ENGLISH STRING MINIATURES, Vol. 1
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LYON, D.: Horn Concerto / Fairytale Suite ...
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Recorder Music (English) - LANE, P. / ...
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