Ireland’s piano music is as vital a contribution to the British tradition as is that of Fauré to the French; and the work of both composers (wholly personal, yet at the same time completely typical of their own countries) is an enrichment of the heritage of European music.

The pieces in the first four volumes of this collected edition are arranged in chronological order of composition. The Piano Sonata (1920) is issued separately as Volume 5. A sixth volume, published in 2012 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of John Ireland’s death, contains a number of uncollected original solo pieces and arrangements for piano.