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John Ireland - Sarnia: An Island Sequence

I) Le Catioroc 00:00 II) In a May Morning 7:30 III) Song of the Springtides 14:11 John Ireland (1879-1962) – Sarnia: An Island Sequence Sarnia is one of John Ireland’s most remarkable works for piano, and it was composed between 1940 and 1941. The inspiration for the work came from the island of Guernsey, where he was a resident at the time. He writes, quoting the National Gazetteer, “The Island of Guernsey was known to the Romans, who named it SARNIA”. During the early 1900s, Ireland would visit Jersey in the Channel Islands on an annual summer holiday, where he was an organist and choirmaster at St Luke’s Church, Chelsea. His affection for the Channel Islands never dwindled, and towards the end of the 1930s, just before the start of the Second World War, he decided to leave his home in London and take up residence in Guernsey, where he would remain until May 1940 due to Germany taking military occupation. The first performance of Sarnia was given at Wigmore Hall in London in November 1941 by the pianist Clifford Curzon followed by the first broadcasted performance in December. The first movement, Le Catioroc, is prefaced by a quotation from Pomponius Mela (c. A.D. 50), the earliest Roman geographer: “All day long, heavy silence broods, and a certain hidden terror lurks there. But at nightfall gleams the light of fires; the chorus of Ægipans resounds on every side: the shrilling of flutes and the clash of cymbals re-echo by the waste shores of the sea.” Le Catioroc is the name given to a destroyed megalithic site in Saint Saviour, Guernsey. The site is a stone burial chamber or dolmen, and the path leading to it has been called “the witch’s path” in local folklore. Ireland draws on the sinister atmosphere of the site by opening the piece with repeated bare fifths and a pedal baseline in A minor which gradually give way to a dancelike middle section in A flat major, with music full of dotted rhythms and swaying figures. This concludes dramatically before returning to a variation of the opening material. The piece is dedicated to Alfred Sebire, a Guernsey flautist. The second movement, In a May Morning, is headed by a quotation from Victor Hugo’s French novel Les Travailleurs de la Mer. Hugo was a Guernsey resident for some 15 years in the middle of the 19 century, and the novel is about the inhabitants of Guernsey. It is translated: “It is a day when the first butterflies alight on the first roses, when the birds sing their first song and wing their first flight. Everything that shines, shines more brightly; everyone who loves, loves more sweetly...” Ireland uses rich chords and lots of repetition to create a warm and peaceful atmosphere. It is dedicated to Michael Reyson, the son of a naval officer who owned the land where Ireland moved. The third movement, Song of the Springtides, is the most extended of the three pieces and is introduced by a quotation from the British poet Swinburne: “Upon the flowery forefront of the year One wandering by the grey-green April sea ......Along the foam-flowered strand breeze-brightened…...” The opening section creates the image of an ocean scene with flowing arpeggios under tumbling triadic chords like waves breaking on the shore. This builds before the ocean calms in a tranquil middle section. The opening material then returns, which is developed further before drawing the work to a dramatic and virtuosic conclusion. It is dedicated to Ms Mignot, a friend of John Ireland. This is from a recording I made in early 2022, it's not perfect but I thought I would share anyway. I hope you enjoy and subscribe for more.