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John IRELAND (1879-1962) CD 1
Phantasie Trio in A minor (In one Movement) (1908) [13:14]
Trio No. 2 in E (In one Movement) (1917) [15:11]
Trio No. 3 in E (1938) [28:35]
Yfrah Neaman (violin); Julian
Lloyd Webber (cello); Eric Parkin (piano) CD 2
Sextet for Clarinet, Horn and String Quartet (1898) [28:11]
Sonata for Cello and Piano (1924) [24:19]
Fantasy-Sonata for Clarinet and Piano (in one Movement) (1943) [14:00]
Emanuel Hurwitz, Ivor MacMahon (violins); Cecil Aronowitz, (viola); Terence Weil
(cello); Gervase de Peyer (clarinet); Neill Sanders (horn)
André Navarra (cello); Eric Parkin (piano) CD 3
Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor (1911) [30:44]
Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor (1917) [28:54]
Yfrah Neaman (violin); Eric Parkin (piano)
rec. July 1976, St. John’s Smith Square, London (CD1); May-October 1971 (CD2);
June 1972, St. John’s Smith Square, London (CD3). ADD LYRITA
SRCD.2271 [3 CDs: 57:00 + 66:30 + 59:38]
This
alluringly priced set is effectively the CD equivalent of
three vinyl discs issued by Lyrita Recorded Edition 1971-76.
For many years those black discs were in most cases the only
representation of these works in the catalogue. They were
at premium price – Lyrita was always something of a luxury
item in those days – and this limited their distribution
although many will recall these recordings from BBC broadcasts.
The
original Ireland LPs were:
SRCS-59 Sextet for Horn, Clarinet and String Quartet;Cello
Sonata; Fantasy for Clarinet and Piano / Melos Ensemble,Navarra
(cello), De Peyer (clarinet), Parkin (piano)
SRCS-64 Violin Sonatas No. 1; No. 2 / Neaman (violin);Parkin (piano)
SRCS-98 Phantasie Trio in A Minor; Trio No. 2 and No. 3 inE Minor / Neaman (violin), Webber (cello), Parkin (piano)
By
the autumn of 2007 the Lyrita catalogue will have three of
these Ireland sets, each of three discs and each disc following
the individual LPs issued by the company in the 1970s. In
addition to this set there will be the Ireland songs box
on SRCD.2261 and the solo piano by Eric Parkin on SRCD.2277.
The
full-throatedly romantic and impassioned Phantasie Trio echoes
with shrapnel from Dvořák and Brahms. It is extremely
enjoyable in the hands of this celebrity trio. Do not expect
Ireland’s subtle impressionism just yet though. This is a
work to be grouped with the Stanfordian Sextet on disc 2.
The similarly single-movement Trio No. 2 is from 1917. That
was the same year in which he completed his great Second
Violin Sonata and revised the First Sonata. The Great War
had shaken the old rhapsodic confidence but not so much that
Ireland’s gift for the gorgeously triumphant was throttled
off. The Third Trio’s premiere dated from 1938 with Grinke,
Hooton and the composer. In fact it had been gathering dust
for more than two decades. The third movement with its cobweb
mistiness is most impressive with wonderfully sustained and
sensitive playing from Julian Lloyd Webber and Yfrah Neaman.
Eric Parkin’s trilling arpeggio figures at 4:12 are hardy
less entrancing. In its urgently clamorous shivering finale
the influence of Ravel can be discerned but the rocking and
sing-song impressionism is distinctive Ireland through and
through.
Next
comes a disc of the oldest of those Lyrita LPs. Stanford
lilts and cheers through the pages of the vibrant and substantial
four movement Sextet. The clarinet is always to the fore.
This is no surprise as it appears to have been influenced
by the Brahms clarinet quintet and the playing of Richard
Mühlfeld. The horn adds a welcome bloom, rattle and, in the
finale, an impudent strut. It’s not mature Ireland but then
neither are his two string quartets which now rate two recordings
(Naxos and ASV) as does this Sextet. With the piercingly
poignant Cello Sonata there is no mistaking the music’s maturity.
Do not miss this version and the wonderfully enchanted second
movement. Ireland had a strong sense of other worlds in the
dark shadows of forest, rockface and downland hollow; that
old and dangerous hidden England that so engaged Arthur Machen
and that has nothing to do with smocks and rusticity. Florence
Hooton, in the 1930s a champion of the Bax Cello Concerto
and the Bridge Concerto Elegiaco, premiered the Sonata
with the composer while she was still in her teens. The secret
and rarely glimpsed countryside can be sensed in the mellifluous
Clarinet Sonata. Despite the damage of time enthusiasts should
however listen to the recording of this Sonata made by the
composer and the dedicatee. You can find it on Symposium
1259.
Parkin
nicely catches the shivering motion of the piano at the very
start of the First Violin Sonata. Despite its date it sounds
much more like mature Ireland. This may or may not be down
to Ireland having revised it in 1917 – the year of the Second
Sonata and Second Piano Trio. Neaman’s slender piercingly
acidic tone will not please everyone but the flaring passion
and repose of Ireland’s writing obviously lies close to his
heart. For the most part the composer shows that he had shaken
off the Brahmsian manner and found something that was truly
his own. So far as the Second Sonata is concerned both players
faithfully convey Ireland’s hooded and haunted mezzotint
world. This can be heard to best effect in the middle movement
where elements of funeral march, lullaby and elegy triumphantly
combine in one long sustained piece of noble oratory. The
finale is quite bardic, chilly and Baxian before a hectic-optimistic
energy and mercurial songfulness crowns this outstanding
work.
Neaman’s
violin tone throughout is refined and silky. I have tapes
of his broadcasts of the Cooke, Lipkin, Fricker, Moeran,
Grace Williams and Skalkottas violin concertos and that is
consistent – part of his aural signature. His sound was always
slender and searching rather than ripe or voluptuous. If
you want something with fruitier overtones than there’s the
two CD Ireland set on Chandos where the violinist is Lydia
Mordkovitch or Andrew Davis’s violin sonatas on Vienna Modern
Masters.
There
are other versions of every work here but no other set offers
what amounts to the key Ireland all in one place in performances
of such persuasive authority and in very good sound. The
closest ‘competitor’ is the 2CD Chandos CHAN9377/78 in which
the sound is digital and a shade richer however the coverage
of that set is not as wide as what is on offer here. Seekers
after the fully authentic voice will need to track down the
disc of historic recordings of the Ireland violin sonatas
on Dutton.
This
Lyrita set is an extremely valuable and pleasing collection
which surely establishes the tone for Lyrita’s similar song
and piano solo sets. The whole is completed
by authoritative notes from Eric Parkin, Frederick Grinke
and Thea King which goes to show the respect and affection
in which Lyrita’s Richard Itter is held by musicians.
This
is an extremely valuable and pleasing set. It makes for vital
and deeply rewarding listening in the twentieth century’s
best tonal lyrical-impressionistic vein.
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