John Ireland: A London Overture - John Wilson

John Nicholson Ireland 1879 –1962. An English composer and teacher of music. The majority of his output consists of piano miniatures and of songs with piano. His best-known works include the short instrumental or orchestral work "The Holy Boy", a setting of the poem "Sea Fever" by John Masefield, a formerly much-played Piano Concerto, the hymn tune Love Unknown and the choral motet "Greater Love Hath No Man".
Like Elgar, Ireland looked to Brahms for form, and like Vaughan Williams to Ravel (plus Debussy and Stravinsky) for ideas on harmony, texture and rhythm. Although strongly flavoured by French influences, his distinctive style encompassed the English pastoral tradition, and he contributed significantly to the English renaissance.
A London Overture which owes its existence to the 1934 Crystal Palace Brass Band competition has much in common with London works by other composers, notably with Elgar’s Cockaigne.
A London Overture opens with one of the thumbprints of Ireland’s music, a pithy but arresting upward flourish. The sprightly main tune, which outlines the word ‘Piccadilly’, dominates the piece, and uses some of the classic hallmarks of British light music in the manner of Eric Coates, such as bowed offbeats, twinkling woodwind interjections and prominent percussion. The overture’s second theme, by contrast with the jauntiness of the first, is an expansive outpouring, a nostalgic reminder of a bygone Edwardian city. The central section of the work moves to an entirely different landscape, quoting from Schumann’s song ‘Widmung’ and featuring a sorrowful French horn solo. There are complex, personal associations at play here. The piece is not just about the place of London, but also about its people, in part an elegy for Ireland’s sculptor friend Percy Bentham, who had died earlier that year. At the same time A London Overture has elusive musical references to the composer’s recent series of close, tempestuous relationships, which included a former choirboy, Arthur Miller (1905-86), and a beautiful young pianist, Helen Perkin (1909-96), for whom he wrote his Piano Concerto in 1930, in addition to a disastrously short-lived marriage to a much younger woman, Dorothy Phillips, in 1926.
Enjoy the images that go with this atmospheric Overture which is rather like a musical tone poem, depict London through the ages from the 18th century to the present day. The calls of the street vendors are clearly heard in the shape of 'Piccadilly', along with all the cacophony of a busy city through the ages. The video ends with a flourish of the cities colourful pageantry and iconic landmarks.
Why not own this fantastic recording ...
John Ireland: The Forgotten Rite, Satyricon Overture, The Overlanders Suite, Et Al.
A London Overture
The Hallé Orchestra under - John Wilson.

N.B. Apologies for any unintended infringement of copyright. This video has not been made for any element of personal profit or gain.