Release Date: 04 January 2006
Label: Naxos - Ex Select Products / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313277728
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: IRELAND
Description
John Ireland (1879-1962) String Quartets The Holy Boy John Ireland studied at the Royal College of Music where his teachers included Frederick Cliffe (piano), Walter Parratt (organ) and Charles Villiers Stanford (composition). During the first decade of the twentieth century he worked as an organist, choirmaster and pianist, and established his name as a composer with works like the Phantasie Trio (1906). The impact of the Second Violin Sonata (1915-1917) at its premi?¿re in 1917 made Ireland a national figure overnight and within 24 hours of its publication all copies had been sold. From 1923 to 1939 he taught at the Royal College of Music where his pupils included Britten. He embarked on a disastrous marriage in 1926, which was quickly annulled, and a subsequent deep friendship with his pupil Helen Perkin also ended painfully. Many aspects of Ireland the man are mirrored in his music. His lonely, shy personality had its roots in an unhappy childhood and perhaps accounts for the melancholy strain in his music. Primary inspirations were landscapes such as the Channel Islands, Dorset and Sussex, and in particular those sites of antiquity whose association with man stretches back aeons, for instance, Chanctonbury Ring on the South Downs. To this can be linked the influence of pagan mysticism in the writings of Arthur Machen. Works reflecting these characteristics are the orchestral The Forgotten Rite (1913), Mai-Dun (1920-21) and the Legend for piano and orchestra (1933). The piano was an important medium for Ireland apparent in the fine Piano Concerto (1930), and solo works like Decorations (1912-13), Amberley Wild Brooks (1921) and Sarnia (1940-41), as well as in major chamber works, for example, the three piano trios. His last major composition was a significant film score for The Overlanders (1946-7). Finally his profound knowledge of English poetry is reflected in the diversity of poets he set, including Housman in The Land of Lost Content (1920-21) and Sylvia Townsend Warner in Songs Sacred and Profane (1929-31). The two string quartets date from Ireland's student years at the Royal College which he had entered at not quite the age of fourteen in 1893. Although his first and second subjects were piano and organ, Ireland harboured ambitions as a composer, and particularly wanted to study with his idol, Stanford. According to reminiscences he told to his housekeeper and friend Norah Kirby (and although her chronology is incorrect), the First String Quartet was intended as a work which would so impress Stanford that he would take on Ireland as one of his pupils. The work was completed in March 1897 and was supposedly rejected by Stanford as 'Dull as ditchwater, m' bhoy'. Stanford, however, subsequently arranged for a group of students to perform it and Ireland was encouraged by the praise given by Hubert Parry (the Director of the College). Ireland referred to both the first quartet and the second quartet, completed the following Sep
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
