First Published: 20 Oct 2011
13 Digit ISBN: 9781843836865
Pages: 600
Size: 23.4 x 15.6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: Boydell Press


John Ireland [1879-1962] was one of the most distinctive and distinguished of a generation of exceptional British composers that included Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Frank Bridge and Arnold Bax. They emerged in the decade before the First World War and, in the inter-war years, produced a remarkable body of music. In Ireland's case his was not only the most popular British Piano Concerto of its time, but he also composed a splendid repertoire of songs, piano music, chamber music and orchestral and choral scores.
This richly illustrated Companion will be essential for all admirers of the composer. Not only for the performer - pianist, singer, conductor - but for the wider musical public, record collectors and music historians, academics and anyone interested in British music of the earlier twentieth century.
Lewis Foreman has drawn on his extensive research into Ireland's life and letters over many years, and, in association with the John Ireland Charitable Trust, has not only commissioned a wide range of chapters from leading performers and writers of today, but has brought together in one convenient format Ireland's own writings on music, the memories of his friends and students (including Britten, Moeran and Arnell) and a selection of important earlier articles.
The Companion also includes a complete list of works and the most comprehensive discography of Ireland ever compiled. The accompanying CD contains historical recordings featuring the voice of John Ireland, with two of his broadcast talks, as well as otherwise unobtainable performances of Ireland's music from the composer himself and from other well-known performers of the past.

LEWIS FOREMAN is author of Bax: A Composer and His Time [Boydell, 2007] and London: a Musical Gazetteer [Yale 2005].

Contributors: FELIX APRAHAMIAN, RICHARD ARNELL, BENJAMIN BRITTEN, JOCELYN BROOKE, ALAN BUSH, GEOFFREY BUSH, GEORGE DANNATT, JULIE DELLER, JEREMY DIBBLE, EDWIN EVANS, LEWIS FOREMAN, NORAH KIRBY, FREDERICK LAMOND, PHILIP LANCASTER, STEPHEN LE PROVOST, STEPHEN LLOYD, CHARLES MARKES, ROBERT MATTHEW-WALKER, E.J. MOERAN, ANGUS MORRISON, ERIC PARKIN, BRUCE PHILLIPS, C. B. REES, FIONA RICHARDS, ALAN ROWLANDS, R. MURRAY SCHAFER, MARION SCOTT, COLIN SCOTT-SUTHERLAND, HUMPHREY SEARLE, FREDA SWAIN, KENNETH THOMPSON, RODERICK WILLIAMS, KENNETH A. WRIGHT


Reviews
[T]his Companion (and a forthcoming collection of letters) will have to stand as the nearest thing to a true portrait of the man. FINZI JOURNAL

Comprehensive and magisterial. CHURCH TIMES

Any reader interested in the music of John Ireland will find this book a marvellous source of information [...] handsomely illustrated and beautifully produced. RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS SOCIETY JOURNAL

In this substantial hardback, Ireland himself is brought to life through sympathetic explanations and pertinent recollections as well as exhaustive listings of repertoire and recordings [...] Much is revealed - a timely opportunity to stimulate or re-excite interest in a considerable composer. GRAMOPHONE

[T]he latest monument to Lewis Foreman's heroic toil for British music. [...] A very impressive achievement. BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE [5 stars, Callum MacDonald]

Lewis Foreman deserves a medal for his Stakhanovite endeavours. A bouquet is in order, too, for the superb standards of production and proof-reading. ... [A] mighty achievement. John Ireland has come home. INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW

The present volume takes a vitally important place in the relatively sparse bibliographical catalogue of John Ireland's life and music. Its main value is the sheer diversity of important, learned and often unknown or forgotten writings. The content ranges from newly written chapters by 'various writers of today' alongside reprints of material that has already been published but may be hard to locate - even in the digital age. [...] This book is essential reading for all enthusiasts of John Ireland's music in particular and British music in general. MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL [John France]