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| Boydell Press 600 pages ISBN: 9781843836865 |
Edited by that great champion of British music, Lewis
Foreman, this is a magnificent achievement, pulling together a colossal amount
of material on Ireland. Complete with a full list of works and a bang up to
date discography this is a must for all lovers of British music and, in
particular, John Ireland enthusiasts.
This is not in any sense a biography. That is something that
has been problematic for years due to the lack of information and documentation
of his early years. This was compounded by the difficulties over his estate
following the death of his friend and housekeeper Nora Kirby. To find out more
about that you will have to read this fascinating book.
Nora Kirby jealously guarded Ireland’s reputation to such an
extent that she ran the risk of having the opposite effect. The artist, writer
on music and friend of Arthur Bliss, George Dannatt, was commissioned by Nora
Kirby to write a biography but gave up despite a couple of years compiling material.
The reason for this was the constant interventions from Mrs Kirby by way of
letters and telephone calls.
Eventually a journalist, Muriel V Searle, undertook the task
and the completed biography ‘John Ireland – the Man and His Music’ was published
by Midas Books in 1979. I have a tatty old copy of this biography, which is a
heavily sanitised account of his life, no doubt due to the interference of Mrs
Kirby.
So this new book fills a gaping hole in our knowledge of the
composer and includes numerous articles about John Ireland grouped under
sections entitled ‘The Man, his Circle and his Times’, ‘Ireland’s Pupils on
their Teacher’ and ‘Notable Articles on Ireland and his Music’. There is also a
section devoted to Ireland’s own writings on ‘Music and Musicians’, a list of
Ireland’s addresses throughout his lifetime and even a short section about
Ireland’s handwriting.
The book includes a generous number of photographs and many
musical examples.
This huge collection of information would be unwieldy if it
wasn’t so well set out and well indexed. This is a huge achievement and Lewis
Foreman is owed a great debt by British music lovers for bringing all this
material together in one volume.
An additional attraction is the CD that is included with this book. On this CD you can hear John Ireland talking about Stanford
and Beethoven, Ireland playing two of his piano works in broadcast performances and two
works in piano roll performances, as well as him conducting an extract from The
Forgotten Rite.
Add to this Helen Perkin in historic recordings of Ireland’s
Sonatina and a selection of songs recorded in his lifetime and you have an
invaluable and fascinating disc.
At a list price of £40.00 this book is excellent value but
checking on-line I see that it can be purchased for a little as £30.00. What
else can I say other than, if you love British music, buy this book.
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