A London Overture

John Ireland was very sensitive to the atmosphere of a place - not so much Bowdon in Cheshire, where he was born, as the Channel Islands or sites with historical associations like Mai-Dun in Dorset or Chanctonbury Ring in Sussex. London, where he spent most of his working life as a resident of Gunter Grove in Chelsea, was another source of inspiration. Based as it is on a Comedy Overture written for a brass band contest in 1934, A London Overture is not the most poetic of Ireland’s atmosphere pieces but it does have its lyrical as well as its jocular side.

The mock-grotesque Andante moderato introduction, which is to be twice recalled before the end of the work, leads by way of a little clarinet cadenza into the main Allegro brioso section - a witty and highly resourceful episode that contrasts a lively little theme echoing a bus conductor’s cry of “Piccadilly!” with more melodious folk-like material introduced by a solo oboe. At the very heart of the overture, framed by references back to the grotesque introduction, is a peaceful interlude in a London park based on a lovely melody on solo horn. Life in the busy thoroughfares is resumed with a return of the Allegro brioso and driven on a vigorous coda all the way to, presumably, Piccadilly.