Daffodils: a
graceful sketch
Piano piece from
1919, in the style of the well-known Narcissus by Ethelbert Nevin.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
Archive |
|
Piano |
Rosemary
Tuck |
Marco
Polo 8.223699 |
CD |
UK |
1993 |
BL,
NX, PD, TM |
cd01 |
|
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Naxos 8.574299 |
CD |
UK |
2021 |
Awards
21 p.84 |
NX,
TM |
|
Hear this recording at https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fntMcXIt164&list=RDAMVMfntMcXIt164
Dance of the Merry Mascots: descriptive piece
First performed at the Concertgebouw
(Amsterdam) on 29th September 1932.
The composer was the pianist, accompanied by the Concertgebouw Orchestra
conducted by Louis Schmidt. The word
"Mascots" in the title is reminiscent of "masked," as in a
masked ball.
Composer’s
synopsis
The
Mascots go to a Fancy-dress Ball dressed as Pierrots, Pierrettes, Japanese and
Spanish dancers. They start with a Waltz
for the Pierrots and Pierrettes, (during which Weber's "Invitation to the
dance" is played as a counter-melody), then follow two movements for the
Japanese and Spanish dancers; the Waltz is now resumed, and towards the end
some of the Mascots who have got a little bit too "merry",
find it rather difficult to keep in time, but they manage to finish all
together! The chimes now indicate that
it is near midnight and the Mascots are heard taking their departure.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
Archive |
|
Piano
with orchestra |
Orchestre
Raymonde, Walter [Goehr] |
CA 14442-1 |
10”
78 |
UK |
[Oct
34] |
Oct
34 p.185 |
BL,
(TM CAS), (TM CD) |
||
|
Piano
with orchestra |
Michael
Reeves, London Promenade Orchestra, Faris |
Philips
6514152 |
LP |
UK |
1982 |
Apr
82 p.1423 |
BL,
PD, TM |
lp07 |
|
|
|
Re-issue |
- Philips 7337152 |
|
CAS |
|
1982 |
Apr
82 p.1423 |
WC |
|
|
Re-issue |
- Philips 400 012 |
CD |
UK |
1983 |
Apr 83 p.1152 |
BL,
PD, TM |
cd14 |
||
|
|
Re-issue |
- Musical
Heritage Society MHS 11165F |
|
CD |
Germany |
1986 |
|
|
|
|
|
Re-issue |
- Philips MCCE
7084 |
|
CAS |
Mexico |
1991 |
|
|
|
|
Re-issue |
- Philips 4380772 |
|
CD |
|
1992 |
|
WC |
||
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Philips 4380774 |
|
CAS |
|
1992 |
|
WC |
|
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Decca/Universal 473720 |
|
CD |
UK |
2003 |
June
03 p.50 |
BL,
WC |
|
|
|
Re-issue (cond.
Myers) « Danse des joyeuses mascottes » |
-
Mon Patrimoine Musical |
|
mp3 |
France |
2019 |
|
|
|
|
Organ (Marktkirche,
Wiesbaden) |
Hans Uwe Hielscher, (arr. Hielscher) |
Ifo
IFO 00074 |
|
CD |
Germany |
2005 |
|
|
|
Walter Goehr uses an amended scoring, including
accordeon and saxophone. In the Spanish
Dance there are two new countermelodies for violin. The recording has numerous small cuts, and
the ending is rewritten to include a timpani roll before the chimes are heard.
Faris plays the piece
complete and almost as written. The only
variant noticed is an extra piano glissando 20 bars from the end. Hear it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_uG2pqDy9g
Neither version includes
the optional vocal effects.
Hielscher’s version can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59A8un84MWI
Performed as a piano
piece in 1898.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
Archive |
|
Orchestra |
Empire
Symphony Orchestra, Ketèlbey? |
Columbia 26695 |
S 665 |
10”
78 |
UK |
[Dec 09] |
|||
|
Re-issue |
- Rena 1219 |
10”
78 |
|
[Dec 09] |
|||||
|
Re-issue |
-
Naxos 8.110869 |
CD |
|
2003 |
BL,
NX, PD, TM |
cd05 |
|||
|
Synthesized |
Tom
McCanna |
private
recording |
|
mp3 |
UK |
2019 |
|
PD,
TM |
|
The
ensemble in Ketèlbey's recording includes flute, clarinet, cornet, trombone,
violin and gong. There is an extra
repeat of 72 bars. Played at the correct
pitch of G major as on the Naxos transfer, the 244 bars take 170 seconds,
giving a metronome speed of dotted crotchet = 172; this is considerably slower
than the published metronome marking of 200.
McCanna’s piano
realisation follows the printed metronome mark.
Did the composer really play it this fast? Hear it at http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/Danse a
la tarentelle for piano sync.mp3
Danse macabre, op.19 by “Anton Vodorinski”
Piano piece from around 1906,
a forerunner of the composer’s cinema music.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Locations |
|
Synthesized |
Tom
McCanna |
private
recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2019 |
PD,
TM |
The realisation includes parts for violin and cello, which formed part of an orchestral version made some 20 years later. Hear it at http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/Danse macabre for piano trio sync.mp3
A Desert Romance: descriptive sketch
Written in 1923 for
Henry Lyell-Tayler, the conductor of the Brighton
Municipal Orchestra.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
Archive |
|
Orchestra |
Casino
Orchestra, Ketèlbey |
Columbia
3342 |
A
313 |
10”
78 |
UK |
[Jan
24] |
BL,
PD, TM, (TM CAS) |
7805 |
|
|
Re-issue |
- Naxos 8.110869 |
CD |
|
2003 |
BL,
NX, PD, TM |
cd05 |
|||
|
Orchestra |
Pathé Concert Orchestra |
Pathé 1859 |
? |
10” 78 |
|
[June 25] |
|||
|
Re-issue |
- Actuelle 10821 |
10” 78 |
|
[Aug 25] |
Among
the instruments omitted in the composer’s recording are bassoon, tom-tom and
bass drum. In the second section (in the
major key), 32 bars are cut. It can be
heard at http://www.mgthomas.co.uk/Soundfiles/Orchestral/Soundfiles-Orchestral.htm
Devotion: mélodie passionnée
The
work was originally published in 1924 under the title “Love’s Devotion”. The music is prefaced by the quotation from Twelfth
Night: "If music be the food of love, play on!"
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Orchestra |
Philip
Lewis & his Palladium Octette |
Edison
Bell Winner 3529 |
6853E |
10”
78 |
|
[1921] |
|
BL |
|
Organ |
Terance
Casey (mighty Tivoli Theatre organ) |
Columbia
5384 |
WA 8646-1 |
10”
78 |
UK |
[June
29] |
July
29 p.76 |
BL |
|
Orchestra |
Viennese
Orchestra |
XX 1760-2 |
10”
78 |
UK |
[July
29 or earlier] |
BL,
(TM CAS), (TM CD) |
||
|
Organ |
Martin
Zonnenberg (Lohman organ, Dutch Reformed Church, Farsum) |
Te Deum
8718011585264 |
|
CD |
Netherlands |
1997 |
|
NX |
|
? |
? |
HMV |
? |
78 |
|
?
ad.1929 |
||
|
? |
? |
Metropole |
? |
78 |
|
?
ad.1929 |
The
Viennese Orchestra makes 3 small cuts, totalling 15 bars. Their ensemble includes a piano.
Zonnerberg
doesn’t use the standard organ arrangement by Gatty Sellars. He cuts 6 bars, and has several moments of
unexpected rubato, but successfully conveys the mood of the work’s subtitle.
The
Dollies’ Dancing Lesson, by “Raoul Clifford”
An action song devised
by Adam Watson in 1896, using words by Florence Hoare, an existing polka by
P.H. Fahrbach and new music by Ketèlbey.
An advert categorises it for Infant and Junior Schools, while the
narrative mentions only girls of differing ages. The scene consists of a piano introduction, a
soprano solo, the polka and a waltz sung first by soloist then chorus. The whole piece is then repeated. Ketèlbey’s music is unusually Mozartian.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Locations |
|
Synthesized |
Tom
McCanna |
private
recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2020 |
PD,
TM |
The realisation
allocates the solo part to oboe, with other woodwind joining in the chorus. The
repeat is omitted. http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/Dollies
dancing lesson for oboe sync.mp3
Dream Idyll
A version of the song Will
You Forgive?, with a solo instrument replacing the voice.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Synthesized |
Tom
McCanna |
private
recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2021 |
|
PD,
TM |
|
Violin,
piano |
Simon Blendis, Saoko Blendis |
Nimbus N I6428 |
CD |
UK |
2022 |
Rewards
22 p.88 |
|
There are two realisations, based on different
scoring options - cello accompanied by a small ensemble, and violin by a fuller
orchestra.
For cello with a small ensemble, click http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/dream idyll
for cello.mp3
For violin with a larger
orchestra, click http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/dream
idyll for violin.mp3
A Dream of Christmas
When this piece was published in 1926, it
was advertised as
“A novelty for
Christmas, speciality for "community" singing… A feature of A.W. Ketèlbey's new orchestral
piece A Dream of Christmas is the opportunity afforded by the author for
the audience to join in the carol Christians awake. This should specially appeal to children's
concerts and such-like where community singing is now so much favoured.”
A contemporary
review ran
“We cannot escape the music's winsome appeal, its
charm and spontaneity, its variety and freshness of touch”.
The Wolf’s music may
have come from a production of Little Red Riding Hood in Aberdeen in
1898, where K had been musical director for the pantomime season.
Composer’s
synopsis (from the published orchestral parts)
A child falls asleep and dreams of
Christmas. The melodies of Carols become
mixed up in the dream with dancing fairies, the waits and the "Wolf"
in the pantomime. The child is awakened
by the joyous ringing of church-bells and the carol "Christians,
awake", sung by the Carol Singers.
The Carols employed are "Good King Wenceslas", "While
Shepherds watched", Portion of "God rest ye merry Gentlemen",
"The first Nowell", and "Christians, awake". (The audience is invited to sing
"Christians, awake" with the orchestra.)
An expanded version of this is read as an
introduction to some of the recordings below.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
Archive |
|
Chorus
with orchestra |
baritone, Court Symphony Orchestra, chorus, Ketèlbey |
Columbia
9138 |
WAX
1999-2 |
12”
78 |
UK |
[Dec
26] rec.Oct 26 |
Jan
27 p.315 |
BL,
PD |
7812 |
|
Re-issue |
-
Naxos 8.110848 |
CD |
|
2002 |
BL,
NX, PD, TM |
cd04 |
|||
|
Orchestra |
? |
Homochord
D 1177 |
? |
10” 78 |
UK |
[Dec
27?] |
|||
|
Orchestra |
London
Palladium Orchestra, Sheldon |
Edison
Bell/Electron X 517 |
12”
78 |
UK |
Feb
28 p.384 |
||||
|
Organ |
F. Roland-Tims (Capitol Cinema, Haymarket,
London) |
HMV
B 2867 |
BR 2174-2, 2178-2T1 |
10”
78, 2 sides |
UK |
[Dec
28?] |
BL |
||
|
Chorus
with orchestra |
Nellie
Walker (c), bass, narrator, W.G.Webber
(organ), Albert W. Ketelbey’s Concert Orchestra, chorus, Ketèlbey |
WAX
4618-1, 4619-1 |
12”
78, 2
sides |
UK |
[Nov
29] |
Dec
29 p.320 |
TM,
(TM CD) |
||
|
Orchestra |
Ernest
Leggett’s Orchestra |
Trusound T1 |
78 |
10”
78 |
UK |
[1930?] |
|
|
|
|
Orchestra |
John
Johnson and his International Orchestra, narrator, singer |
Decca
F 2620 |
GB 3273-1,2. 3274-1,2 |
10”
78, 2
sides |
UK |
[Dec
31] |
Dec
31 p.281 |
||
|
Chorus
with organ |
Charles
Saxby (Astoria, Finsbury Park), chorus |
Regal
MR 710 |
WAR
1492-2, 1493-1 |
10”
78, 2
sides |
UK |
[Nov
32] |
Dec
32 p.276 |
||
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Regal Zonophone G 22529 |
WAR
1492-2, 1493-1 |
10”
78, 2
sides |
Australia |
|
|
|
|
|
Chorus
with orchestra |
Essie
Ackland (c), Stuart Robertson (bt), Alan Howland (narrator), Westminster
Singers, Herbert Dawson (organ), Grand Orchestra, Greenwood |
HMV
C 2490 |
2B 3432-3, 3433-2 |
12”
78, 2
sides |
UK |
[Dec
32] |
Dec
32 p.280 |
BL,
(TM CAS) |
|
|
Chorus
with orchestra |
Robert
E. Sherwood (narrator), American Folk Singers of Boston, Massachusetts
Symphony Orchestra, Attila Poto |
RCA
MSO 58444 |
? |
?LP 16” |
US |
[1941?] |
WC |
Ketèlbey’s
1926 recording can be heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxrI6PDs6M
His
1929 recording can also be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOL45yy5XMU
The baritone soloist on Columbia 9138 has been identified by Peter Dempsey as Robert Easton. The chorus sounds like a vocal quartet. The organ is replaced by brass at its only solo. The First Nowell has the scoring augmented by a tuba, the carol is cut by 16 bars.
Columbia
9138 lasts a single side, taking 3’ 56”, with just one small cut to the
published music. When 9767 came to be
recorded on two sides, much additional material had to be added, bringing the
playing time to 7’ 07”. An expanded
synopsis is read at the beginning, taking 48 seconds. Hush-a-bye baby is sung in full by
Nellie Walker, instead of only being 4 bars of clarinet. An additional verse of While Shepherds
Watched is sung, and Christians Awake is first sung unaccompanied
then repeated with organ and orchestra.
The bass soloist sings an extra 6 bars about the Wolf baying. The scoring is expanded to include strings
doubling the celeste solo during the Fairies’ Dance, and all the carols are
sung, mainly be a vocal quartet. The cornet
playing the melody in The First Nowell uses the excessive vibrato
favoured by some brass band players. The
tubular bell part is varied slightly, and omits the final descending
scale. The Gramophone review
suggests Debroy Somers as narrator and Harold Williams as bass, but the latter
is doubtful.
The
recording on HMV C 2490, also on two 12-inch sides, has many of the same
expansions as Columbia 9767: there is a
spoken synopsis, the Hush-a-bye verse is inserted but at a slightly
different point, there are extra verses of While Shepherds Watched and Christians
Awake, and the singers join in the other carols.
Saxby
plays the work complete, with one extra bar and a few extra notes. The singing is limited to a bass singing about
the Wolf and a quartet singing Christians Awake. You can hear them all at https://archive.org/details/78_a-dream-of-christmas-part-1_charles-saxby-albert-w-ketelbey_gbia3000173a
A Dream Picture: lyric poem
A 1915 piano
piece. The publisher Joseph Larway
advertised a reprint thus:
“… a lyric poem
of unusual charm. I am issuing this with
a delightfully illustrated new title page and believe that its success needs no
prophecy on my part. It carries the
credentials of success in every bar, for it is a melody that never falters from
the beginning to the end.”
By 1925 Ketèlbey’s reputation was at a peak, and the publisher Edwin Larway
decided to issue versions of A Dream Picture for orchestra and for
violin and piano. The work was done by
the Australian conductor Eric Mareo, real name Eric Pechotsch. He used another pseudonym for the violin
version – Evan Marsden. Mareo was to
emigrate to New Zealand, where a few years later he was convicted of murdering
his wife, allegedly because she was having an affair with another woman. The McCanna realisation is of Mareo’s delightful
orchestral arrangement.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
Archive |
|
Piano |
Rosemary Tuck |
Marco Polo 8.223700 |
CD |
UK |
1993 |
BL,
NX, PD, TM |
cd02 |
|
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Naxos 8.574299 |
CD |
UK |
2021 |
Awards 21 p.48 |
NX,
TM |
|
|
Synthesized |
Tom
McCanna |
private
recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2020 |
|
PD,
TM |
|
Listen to Tuck at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AsAhjiGlgU
McCanna’s realisation can be heard at
http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/dream
picture for orch.mp3
The Elephants' Parade (by “André de Basque”)
By
1926, Ketèlbey’s music had become so popular that a negative reaction had
arisen; this can be seen in many of the reviews in the Gramophone
magazine. Perhaps to avoid such
prejudiced criticism, his publisher launched a series of 6 pieces under the
pseudonym of André de Basque. No.1 was The
Elephants' Parade, No.2 A Japanese Carnival. The remainder were never published as Basque
pieces, but No.3 Butterfly’s Frolic was reworked as Sunbeams and
Butteflies, and it is likely that No.4 Taormina, No.5 Confetti
and Laughter and No.6 Under the Fairy Lamps were also recycled under
different titles.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Orchestra |
Bijou
Orchestra |
Bosworth
BC 1003 |
CP 1996 |
10”
78 |
UK |
[Apr
37] |
(TM
CD) |
|
|
|
Re-issue |
- Guild GLCD 5234 |
|
CD |
UK |
2016 |
LMS Spring
16 |
|
This recording lacks effects
specified in the parts such as elephants trumpeting (the drummer is instructed
to “roar through a glass lampchimney”).
First published as a piano solo in 1922, the orchestral version followed
in 1924.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Locations |
|
Orchestra |
Pelly
Concert Orchestra, Barnard |
private
recording |
CD |
UK |
[2005] |
TM |
|
Synthesized |
Stephen
Berry |
private
recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2016 |
TM |
To hear Berry’s orchestral
realisation, click here. http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/Evening
Calm orch synth.mp3
Every
Good Gift: harvest anthem
Published in 1896,
when Ketèlbey had just been appointed choirmaster at St John’s Church,
Wimbledon. It’s in four sections: Every
good gift and every perfect gift – Lift up your eyes on high – Harvest Hymn:
God with plenty fills the hours – Praise ye the Lord. The third section was also sold separately
under the title God with Plenty Fills the Hours. The final cadence bizarrely shifts to a
different key.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Locations |
|
Synthesized |
Tom
McCanna |
private
recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2019 |
PD,
TM |
The realisation
replaces the choir with trombones, and the two soloists with oboe and
bassoon. http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/Every good
gift sync.mp3
Webpage last updated 87 May
2023