Over the last few years I’ve reviewed a number of John
Ireland’s piano music in editions ranging from Alan Rowlands’
much admired old Lyrita
set to individual volumes by John Lenehan on Naxos
and Mark Bebbington on Somm,
the last of whose volumes in the series is now the subject of
this review. It marks the end of an important contribution to
the cause of Ireland on disc.
From the outset I’ve noted that Bebbington has struck
out on his own. He’s not one for received tradition in
this body of work, either via the composer’s own small
discography, whether studio or off-air, or indeed via pianists
who studied with him, as Rowlands and Eric Parkin both did.
No, Bebbington takes some personalised views of the music and
is thus quite easy to distinguish from other pianists who have
ventured into this rather rarefied discography. The instances
where Bebbington takes more decisive tempi in this fourth and
final volume are few. He does so in one of the best-known pieces,
The Towing Path, where the sense of motion is palpable.
It’s most attractively and persuasively done. What I think
he achieves, and what must be therefore his intention, is to
bring out the measured sense of melancholy that infuses some
of these works. He has perhaps taken his cue from the composer’s
own repeated strictures about giving chordal passages time,
and about not playing too fast, an injunction Ireland shares
with Scott Joplin. Thus, to take one specific example, the Three
Pastels, dedicated to Evlyn Howard-Jones, one of the best
British pianists of his day and a fellow student of Ireland,
evoke darker dissonances at Bebbington’s tempi. They are
not as relatively carefree as, say, Rowlands. Similarly Spring
Will Not Wait is surprisingly and, I think, uniquely slow
in this performance, whereas both Rowlands and Lenehan took
it much faster. If you know it well, it will sound rather deliberate
at this tempo.
Both Rowlands and Parkin (in his Chandos recording: he left
two cycles) differ strongly from Bebbington in matters of pulse
when it comes to In Those Days. Once again, my assumption
is that greater chordal weight and greater tempo elasticity
is designed to wring out the nostalgic but expressive disquiet
that runs through much of the writing. Whether you are convinced
is another matter-I do prefer the tempo judgements of Rowlands
and Parkin - but Bebbington’s position is both consistent
and well argued musically.
Meine seele erhebt der herren was Ireland’s contribution
to A Bach Book for Harriet Cohen assembled in 1931. This
was recorded by Jonathan Plowright in its entirety for Hyperion,
a disc I greatly admired when I reviewed
it. Bebbington is, by contrast, rather too inert. There is a
premiere recording in this disc and it’s the transcription
Ireland made of his Epic March of 1942, which is much
better known in its orchestral guise. It’s certainly a
useful pendant to have, and is stirring, though the bigger version
is inevitably more stirring still. On a Birthday Morning,
the delicious Columbine and Equinox are all splendidly
played, albeit the last mentioned could be a touch more rhythmically
pointed.
The recording was again made at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the
acoustic of which has been perfectly judged. It sounds excellent.
The booklet notes are attractively laid out, and evocatively
pictured. Once again the programme has cleverly ranged between
early, later and a couple of less well-known pieces.
Bebbington proves an excellent, sometimes slightly idiosyncratic
guide. I’d keep Rowlands and Parkin to hand if you can,
but this newcomer has much to commend it.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review by John
France
Track Listing
The Towing Path (1918) [3:58]
Three Pastels: A Grecian Lad, The Boy Bishop, Puck’s
Birthday (1941) [10:08]
Summer Evening (1919) [4:13]
Soliloquy (1922) [3:30]
Spring Will Not Wait (1926-7) [5:02]
In Those Days: Daydream, Meridian (1895) [9:36]
Merry Andrew (1918) [3:24]
Leaves from a Child’s Sketchbook: By the Mere,
In the Meadow, The Hunt’s Up (1918) [3:57]
Meine Seele (1931) [2:02]
Epic March (1942) [9:02]
Pastoral (1896) [4:18]
Month’s Mind (1933) [5:38]
On a Birthday Morning (1922) [3:25]
Columbine (1949/51) [3:57]
Equinox (1922) [2:40]
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Mark Bebbington (piano)