Ireland The Complete Piano Music

"Rowlands has special authority in this repertoire. He knew the composer and studied a number of his works with him...Rowland's liner-note comments about his meetings are required reading. I think he catches the sense of romantic melancholy in the [Sonata] slow movement better than anyone else. Everywhere one turns there are things to learn and absorb. Rowlands has the knack of altering ones perception of the characterisation of the music. In the Four Preludes Rowlands finds greater intimacy than anyone and makes most other Ireland players sound officiously extrovert. Rowlands's mono cycle is a cornerstone for Ireland devotees." Jonathan Woolf, musicweb-international.com (***) PENGUIN GUIDE 2010