Description

SPENCER DYKE (ST AUSTELL, 22 JULY, 1880 — LONDON, 13 DECEMBER, 1946)

 

 

 

 

Spencer Dyke was a Cornish violinist, having been born at St Austell on 22 July 1880. He won the Dove Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in London at the age of 17, and became a professor there in 1907. He was mainly concerned with chamber music, teaching and editing. By 1924 he had written violin pieces and studies, had published editions of the classics and a book of scales. In October 1923, Compton Mackenzie founded the National Gramophonic Society for the recording and publication by subscription of classical music, principally chamber music, which was of limited circulation. The Spencer Dyke Quartet was by then already well-known: Spencer Dyke joined the advisory board for the selection of material for the Society, together with Walter Willson Cobbett, and others. Cobbett had founded the Cobbett Competition in 1905 for a short form of String Quartet composition or ‘Phantasy’, and for other short chamber works. The Society was intended to develop the taste for modern chamber music. The Spencer Dyke Quartet, together with various other instrumentalists in ensemble, appeared on many of the recordings, and his position on the committee therefore probably signified the original intention of the founders to employ his musicians for the project.

The Spencer Dyke Quartet was a string quartet active in England through the 1920s. It was formed in 1918 and its personnel remained unchanged until August 1927 when Bernard Shore became the violist and Tate Gilder the second violin. It is best remembered now for a series of pioneering chamber music recordings made for the National Gramophonic Society. At the time of the recordings, the Quartet members were Edwin Spencer Dyke (1st violin), Edwin Quaife (2nd violin), Ernest Tomlinson (viola) and Bertie Patterson Parker cello. Bernard Shore played viola in the last two recordings only.

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat, Op. 74 (“Harp”) (Beethoven) First movement (Poco adagio; Allegro), part 1 Columbia AX 521

Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat, Op. 74 (“Harp”) (Beethoven) First movement, part 2 Columbia AX 522

Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat, Op. 74 (“Harp”) (Beethoven) Second movement (Adagio ma non troppo), part 1 Columbia AX 523

Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat, Op. 74 (“Harp”) (Beethoven) Second movement, part 2 Columbia AX 524

Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat, Op. 74 (“Harp”) (Beethoven) Third movement (Presto) Columbia AX 525

Quartet No. 10 in E-Flat, Op. 74 (“Harp”) (Beethoven) Fourth movement (Allegretto con variazioni) Columbia AX 526

Spencer Dyke String Quartet

Spencer Dyke, violin I

Edwin Quaife, violin II

Ernest Tomlinson, viola

Patterson Parker, cello

 

Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60 (Brahms) No. 1 Allegro non tropo NGS 88 The National Gramophonic Society

Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60 (Brahms) No. 2 Allegro non tropo (contd) NGS 88 The National Gramophonic Society

Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60 (Brahms) No. 3 Allegro non tropo (concluded) NGS 89 The National Gramophonic Society

Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60 (Brahms) No. 4 Scherzo, Allegro NGS 89 The National Gramophonic Society

Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60 (Brahms) No. 5 Andante NGS 90 The National Gramophonic Society

Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60 (Brahms) No. 6 Andante (concluded) NGS 90 The National Gramophonic Society

Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60 (Brahms) No. 7 Allegro comodo NGS 91 The National Gramophonic Society

Piano Quartet in C minor Op. 60 (Brahms) No. 8 Finale, Allegro comodo (concluded) NGS 91 The National Gramophonic Society

Olive Bloom (piano)

 Spencer Dyke (violin)

Bernard Shore (violin)

Patterson B. Parker (cello)

 

Trio for piano, violin and horn in E flat Op. 40 (Brahms) No. 1 Andante 49 E The National Geographic Society

Trio for piano, violin and horn in E flat Op. 40 (Brahms) No. 2 Andante 50 E The National Geographic Society

Trio for piano, violin and horn in E flat Op. 40 (Brahms) No. 3 Scherzo 51EX The National Geographic Society

Trio for piano, violin and horn in E flat Op. 40 (Brahms) No. 4 (contd) 52E The National Geographic Society

Trio for piano, violin and horn in E flat Op. 40 (Brahms) No. 5 Adagio mesto 53E The National Geographic Society

Trio for piano, violin and horn in E flat Op. 40 (Brahms) No. 6 Adagio mesto (contd) 54E The National Geographic Society

Trio for piano, violin and horn in E flat Op. 40 (Brahms) No. 7 Finale, Allegro con brio 55E The National Geographic Society

Trio for piano, violin and horn in E flat Op. 40 (Brahms) No. 8 Finale, Allegro con brio (contd) 56E The National Geographic Society

York Bowen (piano)

Spencer Dyke (violin)

Aubrey Brain (horn)