Description
Ireland, John: London Pieces for piano
Ref
H476
Categories
Instrumental Music
,
Piano & Early Keyboard
,
Piano Solo
By
John Ireland
Chelsea Reach; Ragamuffin; Soho Forenoons
Chelsea Reach
and
Ragamuffin
were both composed in 1917. At first they were given the collective title of
London: Impressions for Piano
, and
Chelsea Reach
was provisionally called The River. Its ‘subject’ is indeed that view of the Thames between Battersea Bridge and Chelsea Bridge which, as a resident of nearby Gunter Grove, Ireland would have known well. The rhythm of the barcarolle evokes both the flowing river and the music of Chopin.
A character study of a typical London ‘type’ epitomised perhaps in the Artful Dodger though inspired by an actual encounter of the composer’s,
Ragamuffin
shows affinities with similarly affectionate studies by Ireland. It is a cheeky scherzo whose main idea shares the same contour as
Chelsea Reach
and whose swagger conceals its careful melodic construction, legacy of the artful craft that the young Ireland learnt as a student of Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music.
Soho Forenoons
, completed in 1920, describes an area of both reverie and gaiety, with suggestions of secluded courtyards as well as street musicians in the repeated drum-like bass of the middle section. The piece is to be played ‘quasi Tambourine’, and reference to the old French dance suggests the strongly Gallic flavour of this quarter, historically a home for refugees from across the English Channel.
