The successful new life of the Sinfonia of London, brought about by conductor John Wilson in 2018, rolls along with this recording of orchestral works by John Ireland. He was not a prodigious composer for orchestra; several of these works started life for other instrumentation, and none are heard or recorded often. Ireland was a conservative composer, strongly influenced by studies with the esteemed Charles Villiers Stanford, who instilled in his students the music of Beethoven, Brahms, and other German Romantics. After ...
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The successful new life of the Sinfonia of London, brought about by conductor John Wilson in 2018, rolls along with this recording of orchestral works by John Ireland. He was not a prodigious composer for orchestra; several of these works started life for other instrumentation, and none are heard or recorded often. Ireland was a conservative composer, strongly influenced by studies with the esteemed Charles Villiers Stanford, who instilled in his students the music of Beethoven, Brahms, and other German Romantics. After leaving school, Ireland drew influence from the French Impressionists, and in this vein, he produced the earliest work heard here, The Forgotten Rite, from 1913. After reading two of Arthur Machen's novels, Ireland's interest in ancient lore and customs was kindled, inspiring this "Prelude for orchestra," though with its imagery calling to mind a pagan ritual, it can be classified as a tone or symphonic poem. On Christmas day of that year, he penned The Holy Boy: A Carol of the...
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