Скачать или смотреть John Ireland, Sarnia, ii) 'In a May Morning' played by Eric Parkin

John Ireland completed 'Sarnia', a suite of three pieces, in 1941 and it was to be his last major piano work. The music was inspired by his short-lived residence in Guernsey, an island that he loved, and Ireland's sense of the past is reflected in his use of the Roman name for Guernsey - 'Sarnia'.

The second movement, 'In a May Morning' carries a quotation from Victor Hugo: "It was one of those spring days when May exerts her full power, Under all the confused sounds, of the forest and of the village, of the waves and of the air, there was a gentle song. The first butterflies alighted on the first roses. The deep song of the trees was sung by birds born yesterday. They sang their first song, flew their first flight. The spring cast forth all its silver and all its gold in great abundance. The new shoots were all green and fresh. Everywhere a divine fullness and a mysterious swelling gave signs of the effort, sacred to Pan, of sap in labour. What shone, shone more; those who loved, loved better."

Ireland's music presents a sort of 'emotion recollected in tranquility' and the movement is one of the composer's most expressive and lyrical effusions.

Eric Parkin, who studied Ireland's music with the composer, made this recording of 'Sarnia' in 1978.