In February John gave a performance of the Piano Concerto by John Ireland with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by John Wilson. Over the next couple of days the work was recorded along with the Legend for piano and Orchestra in Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool. The resulting disc will be the issued by Naxos later in the year and is the fourth and final disc of John’s complete survey of Ireland’s piano music. This disc will also include some rarities for solo piano including two world premieres.
A few weeks later saw John once again in the recording studio with Emma Johnson. The repertoire comprised the sonatas for Clarinet and Piano of Brahms together with Mendelssohn’s youthful Sonata and the Fantasiestucke by Schumann. Recorded at Wyastone, Monmouthshire, the disc is due out towards the end of the year on Nimbus.
There were concerts with Tasmin Little and Emma Johnson (including a brief visit to Germany for a performance in Bonn) over the following months and a visit to the Royal College of Music where John acted as adjudicator. There was also the launch of Helen 
Harbershon’s “Beyond the Clouds” – her second disc of Songs without words. Following the great success of “Found in the Rain” which was a favourite on Classic FM the new disc features Alexander Baillie and Katalin Kertesz alongside John and Helen.
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John Lenehan 