Ina Boyle Essentials

Despite her deep Irish roots, Ina Boyle’s music ploughs a similar furrow to that of the English composers of the time. No surprise, given that Boyle was tutored by a number of prominent English composers and teachers, among them Vaughan Williams. You’ll hear this rhapsodic, Vaughan Williams-esque style in Boyle’s orchestral works, including The Magic Harp, a tone poem that won her international acclaim in 1920. Other orchestral works include her Symphony No. 1 “Glencree”, a portrait of the valley amid the mountains of Wicklow on the east coast of Ireland, again so replete with the influence of folk song. You’ll hear these qualities, too, in Boyle’s chamber music, including the flowing String Quartet in E Minor. Away from purely instrumental music, Boyle was equally gifted in the art of song, witness her haunting musical settings of Walt Whitman (A Last Invocation), Robert Bridges (Since thou, O Fondest and Truest) and traditional Irish texts, including the final track on this playlist, Sleep Song.