John Ireland – the solo piano music Volume 3
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Track 11 |
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Track 16 |
Another perceptive helping of Ireland’s piano music from this accomplished artist
Volume 3 in Mark Bebbington’s impressive John Ireland series for Somm is topped and tailed by two Rhapsodies: the magnificently stormy essay from 1915 will already be familiar to aficionados (and is consummately essayed here), whereas its 1906 counterpart languished undiscovered in the papers of Bruce Phillips (chairman of the John Ireland Trust). The engraver’s markings on the manuscript suggest that this ripely romantic outpouring was at one stage intended for publication, but the self-critical composer evidently had second thoughts. Bebbington does the piece proud, never forcing the tone, yet relishing the Lisztian bravura of the writing to the max.
No complaints, either, about the remainder of the programme. The perceptive Bebbington digs deep into the penetrating harmonies of ”The Undertone” (the first of the masterly Four Preludes from 1913-15), while his reading of ”February’s Child” (the first of the Two pieces of 1931) has wistfulness, intimacy and grace aplenty. He makes an exquisitely pellucid thing of The Almond Tree (a close cousin to ”The Island Spell” from Decorations, and dating from the same period of 1912-13), just as he locates all the dewy wonder in – and invigorating contrast between – the Two Pieces of 1925 (”April” and ”Bergomask”). Bebbington also quarries every ounce of slumbering power and mystery from the Ballade of London Nights and if the Three Dances (teaching pieces, again from 1913) do not improve on acquaintance, the same cannot be said of the Prelude in E flat, a searchingly intense tone-picture from 1924.
A generously filled disc, this, and another notable addition to this sensitive pianist’s ever-expanding discography. Somm’s sound is gratifyingly clean and true.
Andrew Achenbach Gramophone Awards Issue, 2010
“As he has reached Volume 3 of his John Ireland piano survey, it is safe to say that Mark Bebbington has placed himself firmly at the vanguard of an Ireland performance tradition..The performances of the larger works, especially the two Rhapsodies, gain much from Bebbington’s craftmanship, and although we get plenty of the excitement the composer would have wanted from the climactic regions, we are treated to some serene, subtle turns of phrase too…..The mix of pieces here is lovely. This volume would make a great gift for listeners new to the delights of Ireland’s music, as well as for those already converted.”
International Record Review, Mark Tanner – October 2010
“Bebbington’s powers of subtle characterisation and sensitive range of touch are shown in his extremely sensitive portrayals……..The cunningly- shaped programme opens with an exceptionally powerful performance of the 1915 Rhapsody, one of Ireland’s most important piano works. Despite strong competing accounts….Bebbington is providing us with the well-nigh definitive take on this quintisentially English repertoire.”
BBC Music Instrumental Choice, September BBC Music Magazine 5*****
“Music can act as a window into another life. Its idiosyncrasies can help the listener envisage the composer’s influences, the way they wrote their material, even fragments of their personality; and it is this sense of intimacy that really comes through strongly in Mark Bebbington’s third collection of solo piano works by John Ireland. Manchester-born Ireland was a tearaway from his English contemporaries and his sophisticated style is permeated with techniques inherited from French Impressionism. These methods can be heard in the free blending of whole tone and pentatonic scales during Ballade of London Nights (c 1930), the restless chromatic harmony of the Ravel-esque Obsession (from Four Preludes, 1913-15), and in Rhapsody (1915), which contains the sort of wacky virtuosity found in Debussy’s L’Isle Joyeuse. It never becomes pastiche, however, and Ireland’s originality particularly shines through in February’s Child and The Undertone. Music written by a gifted pianist is best interpreted by one of similar talent – and Bebbington proves himself more than up to the task. He understands the music implicitly, and shapes each of these picture pieces beautifully.From the energetic and technically demanding Fire of Spring to the more delicate works such as The Holy Boy and April, Bebbington relates both the rapturous joys and deep musings of Ireland’s music with great feeling. He must also be commended for his programming – this mix of works taken from various points during Ireland’s career flows by seamlessly.”
Muso Magazine, August 2010 5*****
“Bebbington’s fluent and poetic style is well suited to Ireland’s romantic early pieces. The 1906 First Rhapsody receives its world premiere recording – why Ireland withheld it for so long isn’t evident from the quality of the music. The famous Holy Boy is here in its original version, performed with touching simplicity. The Ballad of London Nights is picaresquely atmospheric, showing Bebbington at his most alluring.”
The Sunday Telegraph, August 2010 Michael Kennedy 4****
“The lonely life of John Ireland (1879-1962) has always seemed more interesting than his music: orphaned young; overshadowed by his pupils, notably Britten, who apparently found his classes dull; a brief, chaste marriage to a teenager 30 years his junior; and worse still, a prolonged under-appreciation of his compositions. But the new enthusiasm for English music of this period has led to a revival of interest, as this excellent series by the young British pianist Mark Bebbington demonstrates. Collectors may welcome the world premiere recording of First Rhapsody (1906), but newcomers will find these miniatures, full of French impressionistic colour and English wistfulness, a fine starting point.”
Observer, July 2010, Fiona Maddocks
“Mark Bebbington has done British music proud, and his forays into the less-trodden areas of British piano music have been greeted with universal praise. His survey of John Ireland’s piano music has reached Volume 3. For my taste and even with strong competition on Naxos and Nimbus, Bebbington’s is the finest of these discs, not least because he is the best recorded of the three. Listen to his rhythmic drive in the excellent First Rhapsody and his charm and agility in the Ballade of London Nights…….”
