The Cherry Tree is prefixed with the last stanza from The Loveliest of Trees, the second poem in the famous A Shropshire Lad volume written by A.E. Housman:
“And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.”
The piece is very rich in colour and tone and is in a very resonant D major all the way through, except for the central section that is not key-signatured. The tempo marking is quaver = c.120, though it is common practice to slow this down to 104-108, allowing a more comfortable ride but losing none of the richness.
The notes lie comfortably under the hands (a common characteristic with much of Ireland’s piano works - for example, his Piano Concerto in Eb Major is an ideal work for the gifted pianist with smaller hands) once one becomes used to the colourful harmonies.
This is a popular piece amongst pianists due to the opportunities to show a personal response to the music. Good legato fingering and confident flutter pedalling is required to bring out the tones, and a good balance between the voices must be adhered to.
The piece carries a dedication to Herbert S. Brown and appeared in the 1999-2000 Associated Board Grade 8 syllabus for the piano.
Read more about this topic: Greenways (Ireland)
Famous quotes containing the words cherry and/or tree:
“Lay down, lay down the bigly bier,
Lat me the dead look on;
Wi’ cherry cheeks and ruby lips
She lay an’ smil’d on him.
O ae sheave o’ your bread, true-love,
An’ ae glass o’ your wine,
For I hae fasted for your sake
These fully day [is] nine.”
—Anna Gordon Brown (1747–1810)
“As a natural process, of the same character as the development of a tree from its seed, or of a fowl from its egg, evolution excludes creation and all other kinds of supernatural intervention.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)