Ireland: London Pieces

Ireland - Piano Music Volume 1

This is Vol. 1 of a planned cycle of all the piano music by John Ireland. 1879 was an auspicious year for English music. It saw the births of Frank Bridge and Cyril Scott as well as John Ireland. Having scored huge critical acclaim and public acclamation for his recent recordings of music by Bax, Lambert and Elgar, pianist Mark Bebbington is nothing less than spectacular in these stunning piano pieces. A very welcome release from Somm. Not to be missed!

Best of London

These discs present a rich and varied flavour of Britain’s capital city. Offering a diverse and wide-ranging taste of music spanning over three centuries, the pieces on this compilation are evocative of London in all its glory, whether that be light musical cameos of famous locations, to the archetypal Coronation Anthems of Handel and the eponymous symphonies of Haydn and Vaughan Williams. This 2-CD set contains music by some of Britain’s most popular native and adopted composers. The first disc on this compilation offers a nostalgic trip back through British light music, easily recognized for its emphasis on instantly accessible and catchy melodies. Tracks include the popular Yeoman of the Guard overture by Arthur Sullivan, as well as extracts from the London Suites by Dam Busters composer Eric Coates and Dankworth’s Rediffusion London Call Sign. The second disc comprises more traditional pieces, ranging from delicate lute arrangements of Henry VIII’s attributed ditty Greensleeves to Walton’s joyous coronation march Crown Imperial.

John Ireland

Ireland - Piano Works Volume 1

John Ireland Piano Music

John Ireland - The Piano Music

"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 …