Ireland: Piano Concerto

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John Ireland's radiant Piano Concerto was written for his protegee Helen Perkin, and is infused with her sense of vitality. The result is a brilliant work of high spirits and expressive longing. Perkin also premiered Legend, a dark, brooding evocation of the ancient landscape of Harrow Hill on the Sussex Downs. Of the solo piano works, the First Rhapsody is earlier, virtuosic, and in the Lisztian tradition, whereas Indian Summer is a rural postcard of beguiling simplicity. John Lenehan has recorded three volumes of Ireland's solo piano music (8.553700, 8.553889 and 8.570461) to universal admiration: 'Lenehan offers a uniquely vital and dramatic reading of the sonata.' (MusicWeb International on Vol. 3)