CD REVIEW
– JOHN
IRELAND
SINFONIA OF LONDON John Wilson
Chandos CHSA 5293
[67:16]
'
These days John
Wilson and his superlative
Sinfonia of London orchestra seem
they can play no wrong, with
critical plaudits and awards
being gathered by each new
release. They have all been
reviewed on these pages, but I
realise that the heavier fare on
some albums may not always appeal
to those readers who admire John
for his earlier work as a
conductor of light music. This
latest should not be among them.
John Benjamin
Ireland (b. Cheshire 1879, d.
1962) was rather an introspective
man who destroyed all the music
he wrote prior to 1908. After
that his output included a number
of attractive orchestral works,
seven of which are to be found on
this disc. Other music he wrote
included chamber, film ('The
Overlanders'), organ, piano,
songs and church, including the
tune to the hymn My Song Is
Love Unknown. From 1904
until 1926 he was organist and
choirmaster at St Luke's Church,
Chelsea.
Satyricon
Overture, based on texts by
the Roman writer Petronius (circa
27-66 AD); Mai-Dun,
evoking events in ancient Briton
times at Maiden Castle in Dorset;
The Forgotten Rite,
partly inspired by Jersey's pagan
places; A London Overture,
reckoned by some as having echoes
of Eric Coates; and Epic
March, commissioned by the
Ministry of Information during
WWll, were all recorded by Wilson
with the Hallé Orchestra back in
2007. Apart from the March
being nearly half-a-minute slower
(due to the advance in the
maestro's age – 50 this year
– perhaps?), comparisons
reveal only differences of a few
seconds in timings. This superb
sounding new recording can be
described along with the earlier
release in the Gramophone
magazine review as "a
genuine tonic", which more
than ever is what we all need in
these troubled times.
The album is
completed by the longest item
– led from the composer's
enthusiasm for the South Downs
– A Downland Suite
(17:01) with its lovely Minuet,
written for brass band and
subsequently transcribed for
strings by Ireland and his
student Geoffrey Bush; and the
shortest, The Holy Boy
(2:59), originally a piano piece
composed on Christmas Day in
1913, again arranged by the
composer for string orchestra.
The New York Times recently
opined that "perhaps nobody
since Barbirolli has been able to
make strings sing like
Wilson".
John has always
been a champion of his somewhat
neglected namesake's not overly
large but interesting oeuvre.
Hopefully this customary
top-notch release from Chandos
(in the new city of Colchester)
will help to get him more
appreciated.
The SoL leader
this time is John Mills as,
presumably, Andrew Haveron was
still 'Down Under' subject to
Covid travel restrictions when
the London recording was made in
August 2021.
© Peter
Burt 2022
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