Amberley Wild Brooks by John Ireland

I believe this is the first performance of this piece to be posted on Youtube. :)

This is my performance of a somewhat esoteric piano piece called "Amberley Wild Brooks"; it was composed in 1921 by John Ireland, a British composer whose impressionistic works display influences of Debussy and Ravel. This is probably one of his better-known and more frequently played pieces, next to "Island Spell".
"Amberley Wild Brooks" is the name of an actual marshland that branches off the River Arun in West Sussex, England, and upon hearing the piece in a John Lenehan recording I immediately thought of a type of riverside scenario with all sorts of wildlife and changing currents. I then immediately decided I wanted to learn it myself...then I asked my piano teacher if she had the sheet music and she told me that she did, even though she hadn't looked at it in at least 40 years. :)

This piece is tranquil at times and tumultuous at others, and often times the melody just meanders about without staying on a single key. I practiced this piece for about three months on and off. I wish I could've played the runs a bit more cleanly, and maybe brought out a few of the voices a bit more, but overall I'm quite pleased with this performance.

This performance is dedicated to my father on his birthday. He is an avid fisherman and some of his favorite locales include the gorges and streams of Ithaca, New York. I played this piece at my parents' home on their baby grand.

Category:

Music

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• john
• ireland
• debussy
• ravel
• amberley
• amberly
• wild
• brooks
• piano
• recital
• performance
• impressionism
• impressionistic
• early
• 20th
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[animefangirl102]

Thank you for posting this. Amazing. ^_^ Do you possibly know where I could find the sheet music to this?

[Vook]

@animefangirl102 It's available for purchase online. Sheetmusicplus [dot] com has it and they're one of my favorite places to order sheet music from online.

If you're trying to find it for free though....good luck. It'd probably be best just to give in and buy it. When I learned this I used a photocopy of my teacher's sheet music, which she bought some 30 or 40 years ago.

[CarlHalling]

Brilliantly played! I can't believe this piece is so obscure; it's masterful. Thank you for introducing it to us here.

[Vook]

@CarlHalling Thanks! I see you're a songwriter...do you play piano? Also, do you have any other favorite pieces from John Ireland or other British artists?

[lillylump123]

Awwww my names Amberley!

[animefangirl102]

@Vook Ooh, alright. Thanks!

[CarlHalling]

@Vook

I like "Briggs Fair" by Percy Grainger; he's Australian, but he based his version on an English folk song he recorded.

[CarlHalling]

@Vook

I love "A Lark Ascending"; for me, it's the greatest of all English pastoral pieces. Listening to "Amberley Wild Brooks", I'm struck by how influenced by French Impressionism it is.

[CarlHalling]

Hi there; nice to hear from you. No, I don't play piano, but I very much admire those who do so well. I particularly like "Sea Fever" by Ireland. And among my favourite British composers are Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi. How about you?

[tracyzzz]

nice..