Tag Archives: John Ireland

In concert – Best of British @ Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

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Recital Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham
Monday 17 & Tuesday 18 February 2025

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire has put on some notable extended events over recent years, the latest being Best of British – a two-day retrospective of piano music from UK composers past and present, all performed by current, former and associated musicians of this institution.

Monday lunchtime centred on composers ‘Made in Birmingham’, beginning with the Second Sonata of John Joubert. His three such works encompass almost his whole maturity, of which this is the longest – taking in a cumulatively intensifying Allegro, volatile Presto with a more equable trio, then a finale whose fantasia-like unfolding culminates in a powerful resolution. Rebecca Watson was a sure and perceptive exponent. Dorothy Howell’s Toccata was given with verve by Rufus Westley, with Christopher Edmonds’ Prelude and Fugue in G elegantly rendered by Ning-xi Wu. Chiara Thomson was dextrousness itself in Howell’s Humoresque, then Zixin Wen found quixotic humour in her Spindrift, before John Lee and Ruimei Huang enjoyed putting Joubert’s early and engaging Divertimento for piano duet through its paces.

Monday afternoon opened with Frank Bridge – his Three Lyrics given by John Lee with due appreciation of their keen insouciance, as too the menacing aura of his much later Gargoyles. Established as the pre-eminent English art-song composer of his generation, Ian Venables is no less adept in combining violin and piano – witness the expressive poise but also rhythmic impetus of his Three Pieces, to which RBC alumni Chu-Yu Yang and Eric McElroy were as emotionally attuned as they were in plumbing the expressive depths of Gerald Finzi’s Elegy.

Next came John Ireland – his imposing if somewhat discursive Ballade finding a committed advocate in Roman Kosyakov, who had no less the measure of his atmospheric Month’s Mind with its undertones of Medtner. Yinan Tong proved suitably alluring in The Island Spell (the first of Ireland’s Decorations), while Ruimei Hang conveyed elegance as well as playfulness in Bridge’s Three Sketches. Expertly partnered by Sarah Potjewijd, clarinettist Jamie Salters steered an insightful course through the diverting formal intricacy of Ireland’s Fantasy Sonata.

Monday evening commenced with further Ireland in ‘Phantasie’ mode – his First Piano Trio finding a productive accord between its Brahmsian inheritance and his own, subtly emerging personality at the hands of violinist Roberto Ruisi, cellist Nicholas Trygstad and pianist Mark Bebbington. They were joined by violinist Shuwei Zuo and violist Jin-he Huang in Venables’ Piano Quintet, among the most substantial and certainly the best known of his chamber works. Its opening Allegro is preceded by an Adagio whose acute pathos underlies the robust energy of what follows, before a Largo such as takes in the capriciousness of its scherzo-like central section without disrupting its soulful discourse; while the finale’s animation is not necessarily resolved by its slow postlude, a sense of this music come affectingly full circle is undeniable.

The second half found these artists in a performance of Sir Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet doing full justice to a work which, whatever its eccentricity of form and content, is worthy to stand beside any of his mature masterpieces. How persuasively they elided between the haunting ambivalence of the first movement’s introduction and its trenchant Allegro, with the central Adagio gradually emerging as a statement of great emotional import, then the final Allegro building inevitably to an ending of fervent affirmation. Memorable music-making indeed.

Tuesday lunchtime brought more ‘Made in Birmingham’. Michael Jones gave an interesting overview of his teacher Christopher Edmonds, two more of whose Preludes and Fugues – the elegance of that in E then the rapture of that in A – preceded his Aria Variata which, inspired by wartime experiences in the Crimea, channels the influences of Scriabin and Cyril Scott to personal ends. Zoe Tan teased out unity from within the diversity of Howell’s appealing Five Studies, before Duncan Honeybourne gave of his best in the Third Sonata written for him by Joubert. Inspired by lines from Thomas Hardy on the innate futility of the human condition, its three movements unfold an inevitable trajectory from aggression, through compassion, to a resolution more powerful for its inherent fatalism. A fine piece and performance to match.

Tuesday afternoon brought a varied programme in terms of style and media. Chian-Chian Hsu was alive to the limpid poise of Frederick Delius’s Cello Sonata, while otherwise leaving her attentive pianist Charles Matthews to set the interpretive parameters. Honeybourne was then joined by Katharine Lam in the Sonata for Two Pianos by Andrew Downes – whose subtitle A Refuge in times of trouble indicates the ominous unease, shot through with a consoling warmth, that pervades these three, lucidly designed movements by its underrated composer.

Jing Sun gave her own, attractive take on Bridge’s Rosemary (second of his Three Sketches) – before which, Ren-tong Zhao and Jake Penlington offered an unexpected highlight in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis as stylishly arranged for two pianos by Maurice Jacobson. A not inconsiderable composer, the latter was represented by his quirky Mosaic with Zijun Pan and Julian Jacobson as fluent duettists; Julian returning for his Piccola musica notturna that feels more Busoni than Dallapiccola, if a haunting study in its own right.

Tuesday evening consisted of four notable works. Daniel Lebhardt opened proceedings with Joubert’s First Sonata, this tensile single movement fusing a variety of ideas into an eventful and, above all, cohesive whole through a masterly formal and motivic development. Not that Ethel Smyth’s Second Sonata was lacking such cohesion and if its three movements, arrayed in the expected fast-slow-fast sequence, seemed indebted to the pianistic idiom of Schumann more than that of Brahms, the unbridled rhythmic elan of its opening Allegro (set in motion by a no less forceful introduction), the gently enfolding harmonies of its central Andante (a ‘song without words’ in spirit), then its impulsive final Presto as surges to an aptly decisive close needed no apology. Just the sort of piece that is worth revival at a festival such as this.

As equally was Howell’s Piano Sonata, its more understated and equivocal emotion no doubt representative of a very different persona and one which Rebecca Watson duly brought out – whether the eddying motion of its initial Moderato, intimate calm of its central Tranquillo, or mounting resolve of its final Allegro to a (more or less) decisive close. Yun-Jou Lin rounded things off with Sarnia – An Island Sequence that is arguably Ireland’s most successful such piece for its keenly evocative quality, as was conveyed here though her scintillating pianism. Quite an embarrassment of riches, but one which came together effectively in performance – thanks not least to Mark Bebbington in his curating of the event. It hardly needs adding that there is an abundance of this music for a ‘Best of British, Part Two’ on some future occasion.

For artist and repertoire details in listing form, head to the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire website – clicking here for Day One and here for Day Two

Published post no.2,455 – Monday 24 February 2025

On record: Sinfonia of London / John Wilson – John Ireland: Orchestral Works (Chandos)

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John Ireland
Satyricon Overture (1946)
A Downland Suite [1941, arr. Ireland (movements 2 & 3), Geoffrey Bush (1 & 4)]
Mai-Dun (1920-21)
The Forgotten Rite (1913)
A London Overture (1936)
The Holy Boy (1941, Ireland’s string orchestra arrangement)
Epic March (1941-42)

Sinfonia of London / John Wilson

Chandos CHAN 5293 [67’16”]
Producer Brian Pidgeon
Engineer Ralph Couzens

Recorded 26-28 August 2021, Church of St. Augustine, Kilburn, London, UK

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

John Ireland is a well-respected composer in the scope of early 20th century British music. Often writing in shorter forms, his songs and piano music present a fine body of work and enable the listener to get to know this bittersweet musical personality. Meanwhile the more substantial chamber music shows Ireland was capable of handling larger structures.

A good way in to the composer’s output is through his orchestral music, and there are several attractive anthologies already available – from Sir Adrian Boult and from John Wilson himself, conducting the Halle Orchestra. Wilson returns to the composer here in the company of the Sinfonia of London to give us a collection of suites, tone poems and pictorial overtures. Perhaps inevitably, The Holy Boy – Ireland’s best-known song – is also included, in its arrangement for string orchestra.

What’s the music like?

Ireland’s music is simultaneously elusive, heartfelt, melodic and elegiac – and these fine performances get right to the heart of his thinking.

Wilson and his charges begin with a good-natured account of the overture Satyricon, enjoying its syncopations before a smooth and elegant second theme from the strings, who impress with their command of the longer phrases. They come to the fore in a co-arranged version of A Downland Suite, two movements each recast from the brass band original by Ireland himself an Geoffrey Bush. This is music of silvery tone and generous melodic content, with an incisive Prelude, solemn Elegy, poised Minuet and a crisp, upward looking Rondo. Contrasting this with Mai-Dun is a good move, revealing Ireland’s colourful orchestrations and some lavish harmonies while digging deep emotionally.

The Forgotten Rite, a prelude serving as Ireland’s first published orchestral work. also has deep underlying emotion, while The Holy Boy – Ireland’s favoured song – is more sentimental but not excessively so. Bigger sounds are promised by the Epic March, which certainly lives up to its billing and stature, and A London Overture, which may have less bustle than its Elgarian counterpart (Cockaigne) but creates a studied portrait of the English capital city.

Does it all work?

Yes. Wilson has an innate understanding of this music, and with top class performances and clarity of recording there is little if anything to dispute here. The bigger pieces fare particularly well, with a crisply deployed Epic March and a detailed account of A London Overture that has particular insight in the work’s quieter moment. The Sinfonia’s account of A Downland Suite is subtle but affecting, with a gently dancing Minuet and a thoughtful Elegy that tugs softly but insistently at the heartstrings.

Perhaps the most successful piece is Mai-Dun, exploring some glorious shades of colour and texture, while the dappled sunlight of The Forgotten Rite is also exquisitely painted.

Is it recommended?

Yes – even in comparison with the Halle anthology, which shares much of the repertoire recorded here – though that one includes the suite The Overlanders rather than A Downland Suite. Either are very fine collections, but this Sinfonia of London set of recordings is extremely well recorded and performed with rare insight, capturing the composer’s personality to a tee.

Listen

Buy

You can view buying options for this release – on download or SACD – on the Chandos website

Live review – Nash Ensemble: War’s Embers – Elgar Piano Quintet & John Ireland Piano Trio no.2

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Nash Ensemble (above) [Ian Brown (piano), Stephanie Gonley, Michael Gurevich (violins), David Adams (viola), Adrian Brendel (cello) (N.B. the line-up pictured above is not the same as the one appearing at this concert)

LSO St Luke’s, Friday 12 October 2018 (lunchtime concert)

Ireland Piano Trio no.2 (1917)
Elgar Piano Quintet in A minor Op.84 (1918)

Written by Ben Hogwood

The First World War had a profound effect on composers of classical music. Many of them served or were closely involved with the conflict, and even those who weren’t used their music as a vehicle for the shock and dismay felt at the turn of events.

John Ireland expressed his horror through two chamber works completed in 1917, the Violin Sonata no.2 and the Piano Trio no.2. The latter work began this concert from the Nash Ensemble, part of their War’s Embers series focusing on music written around the War in England. Set in one compact movement, it is a powerfully expressive utterance, even when the music is quiet – as it was when the first cello melody began – to when it reaches peaks of intensity in the march sections, depicting the war itself. Ian Brown, Stephanie Gonley and Adrian Brendel were united in voice, their three instruments often linked in melody, while Brendel’s eloquent solo at the start set the solemn tone.

Stylistically the work draws part of its inspiration from Debussy and Ravel, and these links were nicely played up by the trio, but the opening music dominated to the point of obsession, sweeping all before it. As evidenced in an interview with BBC Radio 3 host Fiona Talkington after the performance, the players had a clear understanding of Ireland’s writing, and his still underrated status in chamber music form.

Ireland’s trio was first heard at the Wigmore Hall in June 1917, and at the same venue nearly two years later audiences heard the premiere of Sir Edward Elgar’s Piano Quintet. Composed in Sussex, this autumnal work, written just prior to the Cello Concerto, reflects a fascination the Elgars held with a group of dead trees in Flexham Park, their branches twisted ‘in an eerie manner’.

The spidery tendrils of the first few bars reflected this eerie vision, and refused to release their grip on the piece despite a first movement that really got into top gear in this performance, passionately played and majestically poised. There was an affecting second theme before we heard for the first time some Spanish rhythms, also inspired by legend around the dead trees and refracted through a prism in Elgar’s mind, strangely sketched but never fully coloured-in.

The relative serenity of the slow movement, was countered by an emotional distance, as though here Elgar was conscious of the War, itself audible to him through the use of artillery just across the Channel. Perhaps because of this the trees made themselves known in closer proximity as the finale began, though here Elgar – and the Nash Ensemble – threw off the shackles to power through to an upward looking conclusion.

This was a fine performance of a work the Nash – and certainly Ian Brown – have had in their repertoire for more than 25 years. Brown displayed a natural instinct with the tricker phrases and was helped by a lovely string tone from the quartet in a performance that made sense of some of Elgar’s more distorted rhythms.

War’s Embers will come to BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday 13 November and I urge you to hear it, placing this elusive work in the context of a fine performance.

Further listening

You will be able to listen to this concert on BBC Radio 3 on Tuesday 13 November. In the meantime recordings of the works heard are on the Spotify playlist below:

For further information on the Nash Ensemble’s War’s Embers series, visit the diary section on the ensemble’s website

Wigmore Mondays: Lucy Crowe & Joseph Middleton – English song

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Lucy Crowe (soprano, above), Joseph Middleton (piano, below)

Purcell, realised Britten Lord, what is man? (A Divine Hymn) (1693) (1:17-6:36 on the broadcast link below); O solitude, my sweetest choice (1684-5) (6:40-12:00)
Weldon, realised Britten Alleluia (before 1702) (12:04-14:00)
Michael Head Over the rim of the moon (1918) (The ships of Arcady 15:20-18:15, Beloved 18:25, A blackbird singing 19:48-22:08, Nocturne 22:12-25:21)
Ireland The trellis (1920) (26:37-29:25); My true love hath my heart (1920) (29:33-31:10); When I am dead, my dearest (1924) (31:14-33:00); If there were dreams to sell (1918) (33:02-34:46); Earth’s call (34:54-39:38) (1918)
Walton 3 Façade Settings (1931-2) (Daphne (40:47-43:30; Through gilded trellises (43:36-47:16); Old Sir Faulk (47:17-49:08)

Wigmore Hall, London; Monday 24 September 2018

You can listen to the BBC Radio 3 broadcast by clicking here

Written by Ben Hogwood

On this evidence Lucy Crowe and Joseph Middleton are two of the finest exponents of English song around. This finely planned recital showed off the versatility in Crowe’s voice, as well as its clarity and pure emotion. Middleton also distinguished himself with some exceptional scene-setting and characterisation of his descriptive piano parts.

The solemn glory of Britten’s Purcell realisations provided an imposing start, although Crowe allowed the expansive setting of A Divine Hymn (from 1:17 on the broadcast) plenty of room to express its excitable joy, with a sparkling finish to boot. O solitude (6:40) was a more thoughtful interpretation and beautifully sung, while the twists and turns of John Weldon’s Alleluia (12:04) were skillfully negotiated. Britten’s expanded piano parts, his own informed response to Purcell’s melodies, were in safe hands thanks to Middleton.
There followed a rarity in the form of Michael Head’s short cycle Over the rim of the moon, from his late teenage years. The ships of Arcady (15:20) featured tolling bells in Middleton’s right hand, while a rapturous Beloved (18:25) gave up its soul. A blackbird singing (19:48) embraced the open air, with a sparkling first note from Crowe, while the cool Nocturne (22:12) sent a light shiver down the spine.

Crowe really came into her own in a sequence of five John Ireland songs. Ireland can be elusive in some interpretations, but not here. As soon as Middleton’s descriptive piano set the scene for The trellis (26:37) Crowe was in her element, using a poignant pause to illustrate ‘the whisper’d words between and silent kisses’. The breathless adoration of My true love hath my heart (29:33) was countered by the finality of When I am dead, my dearest (31:14), which brought a tear to the eye. If there were dreams to sell (33:02) offered a more upbeat outlook, before Earth’s call (34:54) took us right to the water, depicting the plover, cuckoo and stormy ploughland with exquisite detail, all blown by Middleton’s blustery breeze.

After these heights, the Walton Façade settings worked well, Crowe handling the tricky wordplay of Edith Sitwell impressively. Her sideways looks during Daphne (40:47) were brilliantly done, as were Middleton’s persuasive piano rhythms underpinning Through gilded trellises (43:36), where Crowe hit her top B flat with ease. Old Sir Faulk (47:17), with its bizarre lyrics, gave a nonsensical end.

The two encores were unforgettable. Crowe began with an unaccompanied version of She moved through the fair (50:23-53:18), which tugged urgently at the heartstrings, and ultimately brought a tear to the eye. So too did one of Britten’s finest folksong settings, The Salley Gardens (54:20-56:47), a pure and beautiful note on which to end.

Further listening

Lucy Crowe has not recorded any of the repertoire in this concert, but the playlist below gives leading interpretations of the songs she sang.

For further exploration of the songs of John Ireland, this album gives his complete output:

Live review – Răzvan Suma & Rebeca Omordia: Do you like British Music?

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Răzvan Suma (cello, above – photo credit Adrian Stoicoviciu), Rebeca Omordia (piano, below)

Romanian Cultural Institute, London, Thursday 9th March, 2017

Delius Romance (1896); Ireland Cello Sonata in G minor (1923); Elgar Salut d’amour, Op.12 (1888); Venables Elegy, Op.2 (1980); Matthew Walker Fast Music, Op.158 (2016); Enescu Allegro in F minor (1897); Lloyd Webber Nocturne (1948); Bridge Scherzetto, H19 (1902)

Written by Richard Whitehouse

It is not often musicians get the chance to tour unusual repertoire, though Răzvan Suma and Rebeca Omordia have been doing just so with a recital of mainly British music which tonight arrived at the Romanian Cultural Institute as part of its enterprising Enescu Concert Season.

Playing continuously for just over an hour, their choice of music made for a varied as well as cohesive programme. Opening with the discreet charm of Delius’s early Romance, its echoes of Grieg and Massenet not precluding a more personal expression, the duo continued with an account of Ireland’s Cello Sonata that was a world away from the sombre introspection most often associated with this composer’s chamber output. After a taut and impulsive take on the initial Moderato, the slow movement exuded an anxiety that motivated the expected fatalism, then a finale whose tensile progress resulted in a peroration of unusual eloquence and resolve. Certainly, Ireland’s music only stands to benefit from such a forthright approach, and it is to be hoped that Suma’s and Omordia’s advocacy will continue long beyond their present tour.

After an elegant if not too indulgent reading of Elgar’s Salut d’amour, the duo played pieces by two contemporary figures. If Ian Venables is best known for a substantial contribution to English art-song, his chamber music is not insignificant and this early Elegy gave notice of an immersion in the ‘British tradition’ never insular or derivative. Keen to offset the inward tendencies of this repertoire, Robert Matthew Walker penned Fast Music as a toccata which veers engagingly between the incisive and ironic on its way to a decidedly nonchalant close.

The performers’ Romanian lineage was acknowledged with a propulsive account of Enescu’s Allegro in F minor that seems to have been a ‘dry run’ for the opening movement of his First Cello Sonata. The suave second theme is almost identical and while the stormy main theme of this piece is a little short-winded, and its development lacks focus compared to that of the sonata, the impetus sustained here is demonstrably greater than is found in its more rhapsodic and discursive successor. Such, at least, was the impression left by this persuasive rendering.

The recital concluded with two further miniatures by English composers. Rediscovered only after his death, the Nocturne by William Lloyd Webber evinces an appealing soulfulness the greater for its brevity: to which the early Scherzetto (also relocated posthumously) by Bridge provided a telling foil in its capricious humour and flights of fancy. It certainly made for an appropriate ending to this well-conceived and superbly executed programme; one, moreover, that is eminently worth catching at one of the subsequent appearances by this impressive duo.

Further information about these artists and their current UK tour can be found at website and website