Artist: Sinfonia of London, John Wilson Title: John Ireland: Orchestral Works Year Of Release: 2022 Label: Chandos Genre: Classical Quality: flac lossless (tracks) 24bits - 96.0kHz + Booklet Total Time: 01:07:15 Total Size: 1.1 gb Tracklist 01. Satyricon 02. A Downland Suite: I. Prelude 03. A Downland Suite: II. Elegy 04. A Downland Suite: III. Minuet 05. A Downland Suite: IV. Rondo 06. Mai-Dun 07. The Forgotten Rite 08. A London Overture 09. The Holy Boy 10. Epic March John Ireland was something of a child prodigy, entering the Royal College of Music at the age of fourteen. There he studied piano, organ and composition (under Charles Villiers Stanford). He quickly progressed to significant positions as an organist, whilst continuing to pursue his interests as a composer. The Forgotten Rite, from 1913, is one of his earliest orchestral compositions, and was premièred by Sir Henry Wood at the Queen’s Hall. The symphonic rhapsody Mai-Dun was inspired by the Dorset countryside – Thomas Hardy Country – a landscape that exerted a lifelong influence on Ireland. While it was commissioned for the national Brass Band Championships in 1932, Ireland later arranged the central two movements of A Downland Suite for strings. The first and last movements were later arranged by his pupil Geoffrey Bush. The overture Satyricon was one of Ireland’s final large-scale works, and is based upon texts by the Roman writer Gaius (or, in some sources, Titus) Petronius Arbiter, a courtier of Nero. A London Overture and the Epic March were both commissioned by the BBC – the latter as a morale-booster during World War II. It was during this period that Ireland orchestrated The Holy Boy – a piano piece composed on Christmas Day in 1913