Search - Ireland, Parkin :: John Ireland: Piano Works, Vol. 3

DIGRESSIONS (ON): IRELAND PIANO MUSIC (COMPLETE) (PART 3)

Melvyn M. Sobel | Freeport (Long Island), New York | 08/01/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"And, so, Eric Parkin concludes his traversal of the complete John Ireland (1879-1962) piano works with this 1994 CD release on Chandos. Having kept a fairly stable chronology throughout his first two Ireland CDs, Parkin deviates a tad here due to actual composition dates cf. to year of publication, etc.



Such an example of this discrepancy is the youthful, beautiful opening track, A SEA IDYLL, which was, apparently, an original three-movement work (c. 1900) culled to one and published in 1960--- two years before the composer's death! Its neglect seems inconceivable to me, and hardly the effort of an "immature" artist. A SEA IDYLL sets the tone and high musical standard of this radiant CD.



Indeed, Volume 3 is a virtual goldmine of yet more incredibly essential Ireland. I swear: The man simply could not write a wrong note! Pieces here, like SOLILOQUY (1922), the absolutely stunning APRIL (1925), with a melody second to none, SPRING WILL NOT WAIT (1927), FEBRUARY'S CHILD (1929), MONTH'S MIND (1933), with its soulful expression of nostalgia tinged by a kind of subdued regret, "The Boy Bishop" (fr. THREE PASTELS) (1941) and COLUMBINE (1949, rev. 1951), a piece of utter delight that more than surely winks at Ravel's VALSES NOBLES ET SENTIMENTALES, all give the listener unending sources of pleasure, as well as an emotionally ruminative aesthetic that goes right to the heart, which is, in itself, Ireland's own core.



The more ambitious BALLADE OF LONDON NIGHTS (c. 1929--- unpublished until 1968!) and the composer's last composition for piano, SARNIA (1940/41), are the two most "concentrated" efforts, especially the latter, which is rather a twenty minute "suite," a reminiscence of his sojourn on Guernsey Island--- but more an evocation of love, life and death, of beauty and things beyond human knowing. When one listens to "In A May Morning," the second movement of SARNIA, the soul of John Ireland comes clear, and the concluding "Song of the Springtides," which, fittingly enough, is also the last track on the CD, enables his spirit to seize us and remain permanently bonded with ours.





[Running time: 71:37]"