CD Review – John Ireland – Sinfonia Of London John Wilson
CD Review – John Ireland
Sinfonia Of London John Wilson
Chandos CHSA 5293 [67:16]
These days John Wilson and his superlative Sinfonia of London orchestra seem they can play no wrong, with critical plaudits and awards being gathered by each new release. They have all been reviewed on these pages, but I realise that the heavier fare on some albums may not always appeal to those readers who admire John for his earlier work as a conductor of light music. This latest should not be among them.
John Benjamin Ireland (b. Cheshire 1879, d. 1962) was rather an introspective man who destroyed all the music he wrote prior to 1908. After that his output included a number of attractive orchestral works, seven of which are to be found on this disc. Other music he wrote included chamber, film ('The Overlanders'), organ, piano, songs and church, including the tune to the hymn My Song Is Love Unknown. From 1904 until 1926 he was organist and choirmaster at St Luke's Church, Chelsea.
Satyricon Overture, based on texts by the Roman writer Petronius (circa 27-66 AD); Mai-Dun, evoking events in ancient Briton times at Maiden Castle in Dorset; The Forgotten Rite, partly inspired by Jersey's pagan places; A London Overture, reckoned by some as having echoes of Eric Coates; and Epic March, commissioned by the Ministry of Information during WWll, were all recorded by Wilson with the Hallé Orchestra back in 2007. Apart from the March being nearly half-a-minute slower (due to the advance in the maestro's age – 50 this year – perhaps?), comparisons reveal only differences of a few seconds in timings. This superb sounding new recording can be described along with the earlier release in the Gramophone magazine review as "a genuine tonic", which more than ever is what we all need in these troubled times.
The album is completed by the longest item – led from the composer's enthusiasm for the South Downs – A Downland Suite (17:01) with its lovely Minuet, written for brass band and subsequently transcribed for strings by Ireland and his student Geoffrey Bush; and the shortest, The Holy Boy (2:59), originally a piano piece composed on Christmas Day in 1913, again arranged by the composer for string orchestra. The New York Times recently opined that "perhaps nobody since Barbirolli has been able to make strings sing like Wilson".
John has always been a champion of his somewhat neglected namesake's not overly large but interesting oeuvre. Hopefully this customary top-notch release from Chandos (in the new city of Colchester) will help to get him more appreciated.
The SoL leader this time is John Mills as, presumably, Andrew Haveron was still 'Down Under' subject to Covid travel restrictions when the London recording was made in August 2021.
© Peter Burt 2022
