''London Pieces'' is a set of three pieces for piano solo composed in 191720 by John Ireland. A performance of all three pieces takes about 11½ minutes. Their titles are: # ''Chelsea Reach'' (6 minutes). Chelsea is an affluent area in central London, bounded to the south by the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. A reach is (among other things) a stretch of water. Chelsea Reach is the portion of the River Thames between

Battersea Bridge Battersea Bridge is a five-span arch bridge with cast-iron girders and granite piers crossing the River Thames in London, England. It is situated on a sharp bend in the river, and links Battersea south of the river with Chelsea to the north. ...

and

Chelsea Bridge Chelsea Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames in west London, connecting Chelsea on the north bank to Battersea on the south bank, and split between the City of Westminster, the London Borough of Wandsworth and the Royal Borough of Kensin ...

, very close to where Ireland lived. The piece, using the form and rhythms of the

barcarolle A barcarolle ( ; from French, also barcarole; originally, Italian barcarola or barcaruola, from 'boat') is a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. In classical music, two of the most fa ...

, evokes the flow of the river. Composed in 1917.'London Pieces', Stainer & Bell
/ref> # ''Ragamuffin''. A

ragamuffin Ragamuffin or Raggamuffin is a euphemism for a child of the street. The term may also refer to: Film * '' The Ragamuffin'', a 1916 American silent film by William C. deMille * ''Ragamuffin'', a 2014 film directed by David Schultz about Rich Mul ...

is a typical London character type. This piece is a

scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often r ...

, composed in 1917 and inspired by a real-life encounter with a

street urchin Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers ...

.Searle, Muriel V. ''John Ireland, the Man and His Music'' (1979), p. 52 # ''Soho Forenoons''.

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

is an area of the City of Westminster, and part of London's West End. The forenoon is the morning. This piece, composed in 1920, is marked ‘quasi

Tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

’, a reference to the old French dance and is an allusion to the cosmopolitan flavour of the Soho district.

References

Solo piano pieces by John Ireland 1920 compositions Music about London {{classical-composition-stub