His compositions encompass many genres, and, in particular, he has added significantly to the canon of English art song. Described as "one of the finest song composers of his generation," he has written over eighty works in this genre, which include eleven song-cycles: Venetian Songs – Love’s Voice, Op.22 (1995) and Invite to Eternity for tenor and string quartet, Op.31 (1997), both recorded;[1]Songs of Eternity and Sorrow for tenor, string quartet, and piano, Op.36 (2004); On the Wings of Love for tenor, clarinet, and piano, Op.38 (2006); The Pine Boughs Past Music for baritone and piano, Op.39 (2010); Remember This, Op.40, (2011); The Song of the Severn for baritone, string quartet, and piano, Op.43 (2013); Through These Pale Cold Days for tenor, viola and piano Op.46 (2016); The Last Invocation for tenor and piano,Op.50 (2018); Portraits of a Mind for tenor, string quartet, and piano, Op.54 (2022); Out of the Shadows for baritone, violin, 'cello and piano, Op.55 (2023); Other songs for solo voice and piano include Two Songs, Op.28 (1997) and Six Songs, Op.33 (1999–2003), A Dramatic Scena – At the Court of the Poisoned Rose for counter-tenor and piano, Op. 20 (1994). His songs have been performed by national and internationally acclaimed artists that include: Roderick Williams, James Gilchrist, Patricia Rozario, Andrew Kennedy, Ian Partridge, Allan Clayton, Caroline MacPhie, Mary Bevan, Brian Thorsett, Susan Bickley, Benjamin Hulett, Sally Porter Munro, Benjamin Appl, Geraldine McGreevy, Alessandro Fisher, Nicky Spence, Daniel Norman, Howard Wong, Nathan Vale, Michael Lampard, Peter Savidge, Kevin McLean-Mair, Mary Plazas, Peter Wilman, Nicholas Mulroy, Nick Pritchard, Elizabeth Atherton, Kristian Sorensen and Ciara Hendrick.
His many chamber works include the Piano Quintet, Op.27 (1995), described by Roderic Dunnett in The Independent as "lending a new late 20th Century dimension to the English pastoral," and the String Quartet, Op.32 (1998), as well as smaller pieces for solo instruments and piano. He has also written works for choir including the Requiem, Op.48, the anthem O God Be Merciful Op.51, Awake, Awake, the World is Young, Op.34, and the Rhapsody for organ, Op.25 (1996). There are two recordings of the Requiem[2]
He is an acknowledged expert on the 19th century poet and literary critic John Addington Symonds, and apart from having set five of his poems for voice and piano, he has contributed a significant essay to the book John Addington Symonds: Culture and the Demon Desire (Macmillan Press Ltd, 2000).
He is President of the Arthur Bliss Society,[3] a Vice-president of the Gloucester Music Society, and Chairman of the Ivor Gurney Society.[4] His continuing work on the music of Gurney has led to 2003 orchestrations of two of his songs, counterparts to two that by Herbert Howells, and newly edited versions of Gurney's War Elegy (1919) and A Gloucestershire Rhapsody (1921), with Philip Lancaster. His works have been recorded on the Signum, Somm, Regent and Naxos, and Delphian CD labels.
Ian Venables is the Chairman of the Ivor Gurney Society and a trustee of the Ivor Gurney Estate. He is currently working on behalf of the Trust to edit for publication some previously unpublished works by Gurney.[4]
