John Ireland (1879-1962)
Chamber Music
Lydia Mordkovich (violin); Ian Brown (piano); Karine Georgian (cello);
Gervase de Peyer (clarinet); Gwenneth Pryor (piano)
rec. 1982-83, Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead, (Fantasy); 1993, Faculty of Music Concert Hall, Cambridge.
Presto CD
Chandos 241-40 [2 CDs:147]

This generous compilation of John Ireand’s chamber music was originally issued as a two-fer by Chandos in either 2008 or 2009, when it was reviewed by Rob Barnett. Now Presto Classical have restored it to circulation as a release in their on-demand CD catalogue.

Both of Ireland’s violin sonatas are on the first disc, in performances by Lydia Mordkovich (1944-2014) with Ian Brown as her pianist. Though composed in 1908-09, the First sonata was subject to two revisions; in his succinct but very valuable notes, Lewis Foreman tells us that the 1944 revision is used here. The work is cast in three movements. The first of these (Allegro leggiadro) is big and ambitious. Mordkovich does the lyrical passages very well but she and Brown especially impressed me in the many impassioned episodes. The middle movement is a Romance marked In tempo sostenuto, quasi adagio. I like Mordkovich’s tender delivery of the opening phrases. Thereafter, the music is often pensive, though there are some ardent passages. This performance does full justice to the poetry in Ireland’s writing. The concluding movement is an extrovert Rondo. Mordkovich and Brown give a very spirited performance which I enjoyed very much. The sonata is a fine achievement and I was not surprised to learn from Lewis Foreman that in 1908 it was selected from among 134 entries as the winner of the third Cobbett Music Competition.  

The Second sonata was completed in 1917 – was Ireland’s revision of the First sonata in that same year linked to his work on this new sonata, I wonder?  Like its predecessor, the Second sonata is a big work, playing for nearly half-an-hour. (The First sonata here plays for 30:53, the Second for 29:30.) Once again, Ireland adopted a three-movement structure. Lewis Foreman relates that the first performance was given by Albert Sammons who, at the time, was serving in the Grenadier Guards, as was his pianist, William Murdoch. Apparently, Ireland’s sonata was a huge success, achieving nine repeat performances during the concert season. Hearing it in this excellent performance by Lydia Mordkovich and Ian Brown, it’s easy to understand that early success. The first movement is restless in character, often urgent; that restlessness is apparent even when the tempo eases from the main Allegro marking. My ear was particularly caught by a mysterious episode partway through; this passage sounds highly atmospheric in this reading. The second movement (Poco lento quasi adagio) is deeply felt and elegiac in quality. Lewis Foreman very rightly singles out the second subject (from 1:33); this is lovely, melancholic music and it’s ideally voiced by these artists. Mordkovich and Brown give a most poetic and intense account of this movement; they really capture its spirit, I think. As an aside, having recently heard a superb performance by Sammons of the Moeran Violin Concerto in which his lyrical playing was particularly moving (review), I would have loved to experience his playing of this movement. The finale is more extrovert in character; as such, it offers welcome contrast after the beautiful second movement. Once again, I think these musicians make a splendid job of it. The sonata is very fine, as is this performance of it.

To complete the first disc, Chandos offer us the chance to hear the Fantasy Sonata for clarinet and piano in a recording made a decade before all the other performances in this set. The players are Gervase de Peyer (1926-2017) and the Australian pianist, Gwenneth Pryor (1941-2023). The Fantasy Sonata was composed in 1944 for de Peyer’s teacher, Frederick Thurston, so it’s very fitting that we should hear it in a performance by a Thurston pupil. As the title suggests, it’s a single-movement work. At the start the music gives full vein to the singing quality of the clarinet; I warmed very much to de Peyer’s mellow and expressive way with the music; later on, he’s more commanding, as Ireland’s writing requires. The pensive central section of the piece is delivered with expressive sensitivity by both musicians. When the final, quick section is reached, Pryor does much to establish the propulsive rhythmic energy that the music needs. This is an excellent account of the work.

The second disc opens with the Cello sonata in which Karine Georgian is joined by Ian Brown. This dates from 1923 and no less a luminary than Beatrice Harrison premiered it the following year; Lewis Foreman tells us that she described the work as ‘glorious’. Again, Ireland favoured a three-movement structure. There’s a ruminative opening to the first movement but around 1:30 the music acquires more urgency and adopts a strong tone. Despite that, the singing nature of the cello is never compromised. The piano part is often tumultuous, and Ian Brown rises fully to the challenges that Ireland sets him. According to Lewis Foreman, the second movement (Poco largamente) was inspired by the South Downs countryside. After a short, impassioned opening there’s a prefatory piano solo, beautifully judged by Brown and Georgian takes over seamlessly the mood her partner has established. Throughout the movement Ireland’s music is most eloquent, as is the performance it receives. The finale, which follows attacca, is fast and furious; Georgian and Brown deliver it passionately.

As an encore, they give us the arrangement for cello and piano that Ireland made in 1919 of the short piano piece he’d composed in 1913, The Holy Boy. This music, tenderly played, is the perfect foil to the sonata.

The rest of the disc is given over to Ireland’s piano trios. The Phantasie Trio in A minor was his entry for the second Cobbett Music Competition, held in 1907. He came second, behind Frank Bridge, but as we saw, the following year he went one better at the next competition with his First sonata for violin and piano. The Trio is a one-movement work. The first section is exciting and outgoing. That gives way to a section marked Meno mosso, quasi andantino; here, the music is songful and I especially appreciated the places where the violin and cello play in unison. The recapitulation of the exposition is exhilarating and the work then comes to a spirited conclusion. This Trio is a work which is easy to like and it benefits here from a very fine performance from Mordkovich, Georgian and Brown. Ireland displays a fine affinity for the trio medium, as he does in the remaining two pieces on the disc.

The Trio No. 2 in E major, produced ten years later, is also cast in a single movement. The initial impression one has is that the music is darker in nature – probably reflecting the fact that it’s a wartime composition. Indeed, the second section, which is marked Allegro giusto reinforces that belief because Lewis Forman relates that the composer himself confided that this music was inspired by the ‘boys going over the top of the trenches’; the music has a martial air to it. The Andante episode which follows is inward looking at first, though later on the music is more strongly voiced; in fact, the brief climax seems to me to have an air of noble melancholy. The Allegro agitato passage which follows seems slow to shake off the mood of the Andante but when it gets going the utterance is forthright. The short Larghetto coda finally manages to strike a positive tone in this work. The Trio is an impressive piece.

The final offering is the Trio No. 3, also in E major. Dating from 1938, it was, I understand, Ireland’s last substantial chamber composition. It’s a large-scale work, which plays for longer than the other two Trios combined. Uniquely among all the works performed in this set, it has four movements.  The first movement is wide-ranging and attractive; the music exploits the piano trio medium most effectively. The scherzo which follows is short and nimble, though the trio section is more relaxed. At the heart of the work is the slow movement. This is predominantly tranquil in nature and the music is really rather lovely. The emotional tone is restrained and that makes the movement all the more effective, I think. These three performers give a sensitive, nuanced account of it. Ireland then rings down the curtain with an optimistic and energetic finale.

All the works on these two discs are distinguished and they receive splendid performances. I enjoyed everything that I heard and I’m delighted that Presto Classical have licensed these recordings and thereby restored them to general circulation, Snap the set up. The Chandos engineering is excellent, as you’d expect from this source.

John Quinn

Previous review Rob Barnett

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Contents
Violin Sonata No. 1 in D minor (1909, rev 1917 & 1944))
Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor (1917)
Fantasy Sonata in E flat major (1943)
Cello Sonata in G minor (1923)
The Holy Boy for cello and piano (1913 arr. 1919)
Phantasie Trio in A minor (1907)
Trio No. 2 in E major (1917)
Trio No. 3 in E major (1938)