John Ireland (1879-1962)
Piano Music Volume 2

The English composer John Ireland often complained of what he perceived as a lack of attention to his work. Nevertheless, during his lifetime, he had his fair share of exposure, although this has certainly been followed by subsequent neglect. He was born in 1879, the son of Alexander Ireland, a native of Edinburgh and business manager and publisher of the Manchester Examiner. His mother, also from Scotland, was his father's second wife and thirty years her husband's junior. Ireland had some of his early education at Leeds Grammar School, but at the age of thirteen, without his parents' knowledge, presented himself for audition at the Royal College of Music, where one of his sisters was already studying. He was accepted by the College, intending to become a concert pianist and also taking organ lessons with Sir Walter Parratt, organist of St George's Chapel, Windsor. Two years later he persuaded Stanfo