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John Ireland composed his Piano Concerto in E flat major in the spring and summer of 1930, his only concerto and one of the major achievements of his later career. It was written for the young pianist Helen Perkin, Ireland's pupil and dedicatee, who gave the premiere on 2 October 1930 at a Promenade Concert in the Queen's Hall, with Henry Wood conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The concerto was an immediate success and quickly became a favorite with leading pianists of the day, going on to be performed regularly at the Proms and taken up by major soloists over the following decades.

The concerto unfolds in three movements: a spacious opening In tempo moderato, a lyrical, deeply expressive Lento espressivo often described as a love song, and an energetic closing Allegretto giocoso that draws on jazz-inflected color, including muted trumpets associated with contemporary dance bands and rhythmic writing for percussion that felt strikingly modern at the time. The writing balances lush romantic melody with rhythmic vitality and orchestral color, and the piano writing is idiomatic and brilliant without ever overwhelming the work's lyrical core. Widely regarded as one of the finest piano concertos by an English composer, it remains a rewarding and audience-pleasing work, offering pianists and orchestras alike a chance to bring a genuinely distinguished and still under-programmed masterpiece of the British repertoire to the concert stage.