John Ireland - The Piano Music

Eric Parkin, piano

Label: Lyrita
Copyright: 2007 Lyrita Recorded Edition, England
Catalogue number: SRCD.2277
UPC/EAN: 5020926227720
Format: CD
Analogue / Digital recording: ADD
Number of discs: 3
Total playing time: 2 hours 52 mins
Price: £ 29.99 (+ postage & packing)

Recorded at Kingsway Hall, 2 - 14 January 1975, Producer: James Walker, Engineer: Kenneth Wilkinson

"How can the critics begin to understand my music if they have never read Machen?" This was a question heard to fall on more than one occasion from John Ireland’s lips. Ireland came of a literary family, and literature and literary people played a natural part in the formation of his personality. Most influential of all were the works of Arthur Machen the Welsh writer, who was to Ireland almost what Yeats was to Bax. Ireland had dreamt in fire - after his first encounter with Machen it was only a matter of time before he worked in fire also. In the wake of The House of Souls and The Hill of Dreams a smouldering coal flared gloriously into flame. For Machen loved all memoried things and places, things with a past behind them - and the more remote the past the greater he felt able to partake of them. He hailed from a forgotten country in the West, a land of dark and ancient woods and streams and deep sunken lanes, the ancient Welsh kingdom of Gwent ...

Disc 1
Decorations John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
1 The Island Spell 4.10
2 Moonglade 3.03
3 The Scarlet Ceremonies 3.02
4 The Almond Trees John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 3.33
Four Preludes John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
5 The Undertone 4.00
6 Obsession 2.32
7 The Holy Boy 2.37
8 Fire of Spring 1.54
9 Prelude in E flat John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 5.14
10 Rhapsody John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 7.50
11 The Towing-Path John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 3.40
London Pieces John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
12 Chelsea Reach 6.08
13 Ragamuffin 2.16
14 Soho Forenoons 3.08
Disc 2
1 Summer Evening John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 4.15
Piano Sonata John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
2 I Allegro moderato 6.26
3 II Non troppo lento 10.23
4 III Con moto moderato 7.16
Two Pieces John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
5 For Remembrance 3.43
6 Amberley Wild Brooks 3.18
7 The Darkened Valley John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 3.42
8 Equinox John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 2.22
9 On a Birthday Morning John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 3.19
10 Soliloquy John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 3.13
Two Pieces John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
11 April 4.16
12 Bergomask 3.32
Disc 3
Sonatina John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
1 I Moderato 4.15
2 II Quasi lento 3.07
3 III Rondo ritmico, non troppo allegro 2.28
4 Ballade John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 9.26
Two Pieces John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
5 February’s Child 4.37
6 Aubade 3.15
7 Month's Mind John Ireland (1879 - 1962) 4.25
Greenways – Three Lyric Pieces John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
8 The Cherry Trees 2.34
9 Cypress 2.45
10 The Palm and May 2.42
Sarnia – An Island Sequence John Ireland (1879 - 1962)
11 Le Catioroc 7.21
12 In a May Morning 6.33
13 Song of the Springtides 6.36