Clarinet Fantasies by John Ireland and Robert Schumann

Performed by Matthew Hunt and Annabelle Lawson on Friday 16 February 2018. John Ireland - Fantasy Sonata 1:28 Robert Schumann - Fantasiestücke I. Zart und mit Ausdruck 16:19 II. Lebhaft, licht 19:55 III. Rasch und mit Feuer 23:25 Programme Notes: Composed in 1943 for clarinettist Frederick Thurston, Ireland’s Fantasy Sonata for clarinet and piano was one of his last major works. The chamber music medium often displays the music of this conservative yet individualistic English composer to best advantage, and the Fantasy Sonata, like much of Ireland’s music, is both lyrical and densely concise. As was that of Benjamin Britten, Ireland’s music was sometimes loaded with references intended for a small circle of friends; commentator Fiona Richards has identified links between the Fantasy Sonata and the orchestral Satyricon Overture of 1946. Clearer to the average listener, however, are the work’s origins in the midst of World War II. Ireland was forced to flee the island of Jersey at the beginning of the war as