Release Date: 12 January 1999
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 730099470025
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: IRELAND
Description
John Ireland (1879-1962) Piano Music Volume 1The English composer John Ireland oftencomplained of what he perceived as a lack of attention to his work.Nevertheless, during his life-time, he had his fair share of exposure, althoughthis has certainly been followed by subsequent neglect, with once popular workssuch as his London Overture now heard much less often than they oncewere. He himself habitually referred to his early orchestral work TheForgotten Rite as Forgotten Quite and to the symphonic rhapsody Mai-Dunas May Not Be Done, a mark of his rueful sense of humour, as of afeeling that he was badly done by.Ireland was born in 1879, the son ofAlexander Ireland, a native of Edinburgh and, by the time of his youngestchild's birth, business manager and publisher of the Manchester Examiner. Hismother, also from Scotland, was his father's second wife and thirty years herhusband's junior. Ireland had some of his early education at Leeds GrammarSchool, but took the initiative, at the age of thirteen, without his parents'knowledge, to present himself for audition at the Royal College of Music, whereone of his sisters was already studying. He was accepted by the College,intending to become a concert pianist, and also taking organ lessons with SirWalter Parratt, organist of St George's Chapel, Windsor. Two years later hepersuaded Stanford to accept him as a composition pupil. In the followingyears, while he attempted to establish himself as a composer, Ireland,supported by the money he had by then inherited from his parents, earned anadditional living for himself as an organist and choirmaster, establishinglasting friendships with some of the boys in his charge. He settled in Chelsea,dividing his time between London, a retreat in Deal and regular visits to theChannel Islands. After the war he joined the teaching staff of the RoyalCollege. There he continued to exercise influence on generations of students,among whom was Benjamin Britten, who had reason to complain of the irregularityof lessons, a matter later remedied, while he seems to have learned to toleratethe tendency of his teacher to occasional alcoholic excess. In 1927 he made abrief attempt at marriage. His wife, a student some thirty years his junior,proved as unsuitable a partner as Tchaikovsky's had fifty years earlier, andthe marriage was quickly annulled.In common with other musicians, Irelandsuffered disruption to his life in 1939. He had at first thought to find peacein the Channel Islands, to be evacuated to safety when the surrender of Francebecame imminent. He spent much of the war lodging with a clergyman he had firstknown as a young choirmaster and once the war was over returned to Chelsea,until London became impossible for him. He spent his final years in Sussex,where he died in 1962.Ireland, with his long connection withthe Church of England and its liturgy, wrote music for services, hymns andcarols, He also added to English vocal repertoire in a valuable series of solosongs and cho
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Various
Various
Lully
