Fairies of the Stream: valse brillante
A waltz originally published in 1919 for
piano. The mood of the time is caught in the notice in a
promotional copy
" British composition, British engraving,
printing and paper published by a purely British firm."
The
orchestration dates from 1921, and later a xylophone solo part was added to put
a novelty spotlight on the orchestra’s percussionist.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Review |
Locations |
|
Orchestra |
Pathé Concert Orchestra |
Pathé 5703 |
? |
12” 78 |
UK |
[June 22] |
||
|
Re-issue |
- Actuelle 15111 |
12” 78 |
|
[June 22] |
||||
|
Piano |
Eric
Halstead |
private
recording |
CD |
UK |
2003 |
TM |
||
|
Piano |
Markus
Staab |
private
recording |
|
Web |
Germany |
2009 |
|
|
|
Piano |
Phillip
Sear |
private
recording |
|
Web |
UK |
2016 |
|
|
|
Synthesized |
Tom McCanna |
private recording |
|
mp3 |
UK |
2020 |
|
TM |
The Halstead recording is
available at http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/4904172-fairies-of-the-stream-by-ketelbey-mp3
The Staab
recording can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=UG&feature=relmfu&hl=en-GB&v=d25jFmh_GPE
The Sear recording can be
seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6q34euVXys
The McCanna realisation is of the orchestral version, both with and without xylophone. Choose from http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/fairies of the stream for orch.mp3
or http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/fairies
of the stream for xyl.mp3
Fairy Butterfly
This song was written for
Florence Smithson, who was appearing at the Drury Lane Theatre as Princess Rosabel in the pantomime Puss in Boots from 27th
December 1915. Other characters listed
in the cast included Fairy Queen, and Queen of the Butterflies. The recording pre-dates the publication of
the sheet music, and probably represents what was sung in the original
pantomime.
Words as written by the composer (Florence
Smithson varies these a little)
Butterfly,
butterfly, winging so brightly,
Fluttering
busily there,
Butterfly,
butterfly, dancing so lightly
Scattering
perfum’d air,
Butterfly,
butterfly, will you not tarry,
Circling
ev’rywhere.
Ah,
ah, ah, ah,
Circling
ev’rywhere.
Twirling,
Whirling,
Ah,
ah, ah.
White
wings,
Bright
wings,
Ah.
Let
me catch you,
Naught
can match you.
Ah.
Like
shadow airy
You
are so wary
Ah.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Review |
Locations |
|
Song
with orchestra |
Florence
Smithson (s), orchestra, Ketèlbey |
Columbia
L 1030 |
6724 |
12”
78 |
UK |
[May
16] |
BL |
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Naxos 8.110848 |
CD |
|
2002 |
BL, NX, PD, TM |
The Naxos transfer is played
at 74rpm, sounding in Bb major.
Any faster would sound unnaturally hurried and squeaky – though the
sheet music does say that the original key was higher, C major.
The recording contains
several sections not in the published music, including a cadenza. The singer sometimes varies both words and
music, ending on a breath-taking pianissimo high D. Hear it at https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xAsHY_Hcy7M&list=RDAMVMxAsHY_Hcy7M
The
Fairy Ring: fantasy = Gossamer: sketch
First published as Gossamer in 1899,
this piano piece was re-issued in 1920 with the new title. Two pretty titles for one piece!
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Locations |
|
Synthesized |
Tom McCanna |
private recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2019 |
PD, TM |
Click here to hear the
realisation. http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/Fairy ring for
piano sync.mp3
Three Fanciful Etchings - complete
This suite was arranged in 1928 from three of the Six Vignettes, a set of piano solos published in 1916. Nuages qui passent was merely orchestrated to become A Passing Storm Cloud on a Summer Day, but the other two movements were substantially re-written. Papillon bleu was set to a new rhythm to form a substantial part of Quips, and Cranks, and Wanton Wiles.
The biggest
transformation was wrought on La brume: representation d'une ville industrielle,
à la nuit. The
whole piece was "greened" to become The Ploughman Homeward Plods
his Weary Way, with the city at night with its smog becoming evening
countryside, perhaps with a bit of autumnal mist. Musically this is achieved by three main
technical changes:
- altering the layout of notes within the ostinato
chords to make them sound opulent major chords rather than discordant and
atonal
- adding a lengthy sustained melody above these
ostinato chords
- keeping the whole piece
no louder than mezzo forte.
Composer’s synopsis
The composer has attempted to illustrate three poetical quotations in a
slightly modernist manner. They are
scored for muted strings, woodwind, harp, celeste and a little brass.
1. A Passing Storm Cloud on a Summer Day.
The first piece represents a calm summer sky with just a few clouds breaking
the blue expanse; thunder-clouds presently appear and threaten to break into a
shower; it subsides quickly and the blue sky once more prevails.
2. The Ploughman Homeward Plods his Weary
Way. The second piece represents the ploughman
plodding along in an autumnal twilight; after a time
his steps become slightly intermittent and he starts to whistle a short phrase
softly to himself; he rests a while and contemplates the scene in a reflective
mood. He resumes his homeward journey,
whistling his little tune occasionally, and gradually begins to slow up as he
reaches home.
3. Quips, and Cranks, and Wanton
Wiles. The
third piece represents an imaginary scene at the Russian ballet. After a short introduction, light-footed
nymphs dance about executing fantastic twirls and rushings
hither and thither. They observe an old
Satyr and try to lure him on to dance with them – he rejects their overtures
rather brusquely; they run away and after a pause resume their dancing among
themselves. The old Satyr watches them
and eventually joins them clumsily in their dance.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Orchestra |
Albert
W. Ketelbey’s Concert Orchestra, Ketèlbey |
WAX
3218, 3219, 3220, 3221 |
12”
78, 4 sides |
UK |
[July
28] rec.Mar 28 |
July
28 p.61 |
BL, PD, (TM CAS) |
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Naxos 8.110174 |
CD |
|
2001 |
BL, NX, PD, TM |
|||
|
Orchestra |
Louis
Voss & his Orchestra |
Bosworth
BC 1217/8 |
CP
1577 (CTP 17450), CP 1578 (CTP 17451), CTP 17474 |
10”
78, 3 sides |
UK |
[1947] |
BL (lacks movt.3), (TM CD) |
|
|
|
Re-issue
of Movt.3
“Playful Fantasia” |
-
Soho Archive SOHOA 130 |
|
CD |
UK |
2016 |
|
|
|
Orchestra |
BBC Concert Orchestra,
Yates |
Dutton Epoch CDLX 7407 |
|
CD |
UK |
2023 |
|
TM |
The
Naxos transfer lacks movement indexes. Movement
2 begins at 3’ 58”, movement, 3 at 10’ 05”.
The Soho Archive transfer can
be heard at https://www.universalproductionmusic.com/en-hk/discover/albums/12829/Melodrama-And-Passion
Ketèlbey follows his own metronome markings fairly closely in two of the movements, and Robinson (see below) is not far different. Yates is slower in the 1st and 3rd movements.
|
Passage |
Length |
Metronome |
Ketèlbey |
Voss |
Robinson |
Yates |
|
|
Movt.1
bar 1-16 |
58
crotchets |
crotchet
= 60 |
58 |
53 |
58 |
45 |
|
|
Movt.1
bar 26-43 |
72
crotchets |
no
metronome |
114 |
90 |
105 |
96 |
|
|
Movt.2 |
436
crotchets |
crotchet
= ca.88 |
72 |
64 |
69 |
88 |
|
|
Movt.3 |
386
dotted minims |
dotted
minim = 92 |
94 |
83 |
not
recorded |
83 |
|
The Voss recording makes numerous cuts. The first movement only loses 12 bars, but the
second has 4 cuts totalling a massive 68 bars out of 109, and the third 6 cuts
totalling 145 bars out of 386. In the
second movement, his harp plays many more notes than written, suggesting that
the ploughman is plodding not homeward but heavenward!
The triangle, which plays for much of the 3rd
movement, is inaudible on Yates’s recording.
Three Fanciful Etchings – 1. A Passing Storm Cloud on a Summer Day
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Orchestra |
New
Symphony Orchestra of London, Robinson |
Decca
LW 5115 |
10” LP |
UK |
[July
54] |
July
54 p73 |
PD, (TM CAS) |
|
|
Re-issue |
-
London LD 9119 |
10”
LP |
US |
[1954] |
|
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Decca 452987-2 DWO |
CD |
UK |
1997 |
Nov 97 p.48, Oct 12 p.109 |
BL, PD, TM, (TM CD) |
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Decca/Universal 473720-2 |
CD |
|
2003 |
June
03 p.50 |
WC |
Hear
this at https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=htZIa9wrLKU&list=RDAMVMhtZIa9wrLKU
Three Fanciful Etchings – 2. The Ploughman Homeward Plods his Weary Way
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Orchestra |
New
Symphony Orchestra of London, Robinson |
Decca
LK 4080 |
LP |
UK |
[June
54] |
July
54 p.73, Mar55 p.464-465 |
BL |
|
Re-issue |
- Decca LW 5140 |
10” LP |
UK |
[Dec 54] |
PD |
||
|
|
Re-issue |
- Decca 6835 654 |
LP |
Netherlands |
1960 |
|
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Ace of Clubs ACL 1044 |
LP |
UK |
[1961] |
BL |
||
|
Re-issue |
-
Eclipse ECS (+ECM) 2016 |
LP |
UK |
1969 |
Feb
70 p.1332 |
BL, PD, TM. (TM CD) |
|
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Decca DDX 190039 |
LP |
Netherlands |
1969 |
|
|
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Decca NUX 390044 |
LP |
Netherlands |
1969 |
|
|
|
|
Re-issue |
- Decca 220014 |
LP |
France |
1969 |
|
|
|
|
Re-issue |
- London
ECL 105 |
LP |
Brazil |
1977 |
|
|
|
|
Re-issue |
- London LL
985 |
LP |
US |
? |
|
|
|
|
Re-issue |
- London LLC 5047 |
LP |
Brazil |
? |
|
|
|
|
Re-issue |
- Richmond B 20083 |
LP |
US |
? |
|
|
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Decca 452987-2 DWO |
CD |
UK |
1997 |
Nov
97 p.48 |
BL, PD, TM |
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Decca 473720-2 |
CD |
|
2003 |
June
03 p.50 |
|
Hear this at https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GF4etxtF6A4&list=RDAMVMGF4etxtF6A4
Fanfare for a Ceremonial Occasion
Fanfare dating from 1935,
scored for 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and side drum.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Wind |
(trumpets,
saxophones, trombone, side drum) |
Bosworth
BD 101 |
CP
397 |
10”
78 |
UK |
[1936] |
BL, WC, (TM CD) |
|
|
|
Re-issue “Historical Fanfare” |
Soho
Archive SOHOA 125 |
|
CD |
UK |
2016 |
|
|
|
Brass |
Trumpets of Royal Military
School of Music (Kneller Hall), Roberts |
Decca F 9281 |
DR 14174-1 |
10” 78 |
UK |
[1954] |
|
WC |
|
|
Re-issue |
- Decca
45-F 9281 |
|
SP |
UK |
June 1960 |
June
60 p.41 |
|
|
|
Re-issue |
-
London LB 186 |
|
10”
LP |
US |
|
|
|
|
Brass |
Trumpets
of HM Royal Marines & others, Haigh |
Waverley
SZLP 2019 |
LP |
UK |
1963 |
BL |
||
|
Brass |
Central
Band of the RAF, Wallace |
HMV
CLP 1705 |
|
LP |
UK |
1964 |
Feb
64 p.389 |
BL, TM |
|
|
Re-issue |
-
HMV CSD 1526 |
|
LP |
UK |
1964 |
Feb
64 p.389 |
|
|
Brass |
Black
Watch Trumpets and Drums |
Decca
SKL (+KL) 4571 |
LP |
UK |
[?1964] |
May
64 p.526 |
BL |
|
|
Brass? |
John Marshall High School (Los Angeles) |
private
recording |
|
LP |
US |
1964 |
|
|
|
Brass |
Band
of the Royal Canadian Regiment, Collins |
Decca
SB 704 |
LP |
|
1973 |
Dec
74 p.1621 |
BL |
|
|
Brass |
Concert Band of the Royal Australian Navy, Coxon |
EMI SCXO.8015 |
|
LP |
Australia |
1973 |
|
|
|
Wind |
Louisiana
State University Marching Band, Swor (arr. Swor) |
United
Sound USR 7656 |
|
LP |
US |
1974 |
|
|
|
Brass |
Thurrock
Marching Brass, Loader (arr. Hendle) |
Grosvenor
GRS 1096 |
LP |
UK |
1981 |
|
BL |
|
|
Brass |
Virginia
Grand Military Band, Schssl |
VGMB
1171 |
CD |
US |
[2002] |
|||
|
Brass |
Onyx Brass, Wilson |
Chandos CHSA 5221 |
|
CD |
UK |
2018 |
June 18 p.58 |
NX, PD, TM |
The Bosworth version is
included on a disc of library music containing 7 fanfares by various
composers. The tenor trombones are replaced
by tenor saxophones. Click here to hear the Soho Archive transfer. https://search.sohoproductionmusic.co.uk/album/a94114164911cff1/be494e2af6c0d7c3/en?accountserviceid=145e2b8d68c4a0b6
The RAF recording is of a
Passing Out Parade at the RAF College, Cranwell. The band uses cornets rather than trumpets.
Hear
Onyx at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDh3KnVozg
Fanfare for a Naval Occasion, no.1 & 2
These two fanfares were
almost certainly written for Vivian Dunn and the Band of HM Marines (Portsmouth
Division). No.1 is scored for 4
trumpets, 3 trombones and drums, with optional bugles and horns. No 2 is for 3 trumpets, 2 horns, 3 trombones
and drums. Both are based almost
entirely on naval melodies.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Brass |
Onyx Brass, Wilson |
Chandos CHSA 5221 |
CD |
UK |
2018 |
June 18 p.58 |
NX, PD, TM |
Onyx replace
bugles with trumpets, and omits the horns in no.2. Hear them at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDh3KnVozg
Fanfare for the Royal Artillery
This unpublished fanfare was written in 1944 for Captain Geary of the
Royal Artillery, and quotes the regimental call near the end. The composer’s manuscript lists 4 trumpets, 4
trombones and drums.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Brass |
Onyx Brass, Wilson |
Chandos CHSA 5221 |
CD |
UK |
2018 |
June 18 p.58 |
NX, PD, TM |
On the Onyx recording, Simon Nathan has added cymbals, and there is also
a conspicuous bass drum not cued in the original. Hear them at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDh3KnVozg
Fanfare for Victory
Published with elastic scoring up to a near complete military band, but
the basic ensemble uses 6 trumpets, 4 trombones, drums & bells. The original manuscript does not include the
trombone quotation of God Save the King
as a counterpoint to the Marseillaise.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Brass |
Onyx Brass, Wilson |
Chandos CHSA 5221 |
CD |
UK |
2018 |
June 18 p.58 |
NX, PD, TM |
Onyx use the minimum ensemble, and include God Save the King. Hear
them at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDh3KnVozg
Festal March
A
piece from the organist at St. John's Church, Wimbledon, published in 1895.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Locations |
|
Synthesized |
Tom McCanna |
private recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2021 |
TM |
Hear
this at http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/Festal
march for organ.mp3
Fête Champêtre: characteristic sketch
The title of this jolly 1900
piano piece suggests rustic revelry, but the opening phrase of the main melody
could be in the Hebrides, while a later theme is reminiscent of Hoffman’s
Nuremberg tavern.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Locations |
|
Synthesized |
Tom McCanna |
private recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2019 |
PD, TM |
The clunky realisation is
based on a piano-duet arrangement, which cuts some of the repeated sections. It can be heard at
http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/Fete champetre for piano sync.mp3
Fiddle Fun
Only
known as a comedy recording from 1915.
Perhaps it was based on a music-hall number.
Composer’s
synopsis
[Part
One] of this little Fantasia Burlesca starts with a
few bars of Liszt's Rhapsody interrupted by "Three Blind Mice"
treated slightly a l'Hongroise. "Pop Goes the Weasel" leads to a
Melodramatic episode, with the 4th string as the Villain; the Maiden shrieks
and runs away - presumably with a Scotsman, as we hear the bagpipe imitation
immediately afterwards. "Winding up
a rusty clock" and the clock striking three, leads into a weary rendering
of "What Can the Matter Be?"
An Oriental March (with Drum effect by the Violin) leads into "Poet
and Peasant" interrupted by a snatch of a Hornpipe; after a resumption of
"Poet and Peasant" this part finishes with banjo-like run down the
Violin played pizzicato.
[Part
Two] starts with the Ranz des Vaches
from "William Tell", interrupted by "Cockcrows" and
"Clucking of hens". A Cadenza of Bird imitations by the Violin alone
leads in a "Cuckoo" episode in Galop tempo. The donkey brays during a fragment from the
"Midsummer Night's Dream" and again during "Home Sweet Home"
harmonised in a rather Debussy-like manner.
Someone suggests a drink here by the street whistle "Half a pint of
mild and bitter" played by the Violin, responded to (cordially) by the
piano; a hymnlike tag suggests the restraining presence of a village "Stiggins". A portion of the last movement of
"William Tell" overture interrupted by various musical(?) sounds
brings the novel record to a conclusion.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Matrix |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Review |
Locations |
|
Violin
and piano |
Louis
and Lewis |
Regal
G 6927 |
29318,
29319 |
10”
78, 2 sides |
UK |
[July
15] |
BL,
PD, (TM CD) |
|
|
Re-issue |
-
Naxos 8.110869 |
CD |
|
2003 |
BL, NX, PD, TM |
There can be no doubt that
the pianist is Ketèlbey himself, but the identity of the
violinist is unknown. Hear the piece at https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=7BmKQl-J2vk&list=RDAMVM7BmKQl-J2vk
Fighting for Freedom!
Song written shortly after
the Evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, and marked to be sung "with great
determination, a bayonet in every note".
The refrain starts “We will FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT for the Land of the Free…” The score is prefaced by the contemporary
quotation:
Mr Churchill said:- "We shall
fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in
the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never
surrender."
Appropriately
enough for fighting on the beaches, the first performance was with the Band of
H.M. Royal Marines. The music is scored so that it can be performed as a
conventional military march, without vocals.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Locations |
|
Synthesized |
Tom McCanna |
private recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2019 |
PD, TM |
The orchestral realisation can be heard at http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/Fighting for
freedom for orch sync.mp3
Flipperty Hi O! Chang: a song for children, by
“Raoul Clifford”
Published in the
magazine Little Folks in 1898. “Flipperty Hi O! Chang” was the exotic name of a rat, who
unsuccessfully told the little rats to avoid the big owl.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Locations |
|
Synthesized |
Tom McCanna |
private recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2020 |
TM |
From a Japanese Screen
An intermezzo published both for orchestra and for
piano solo in 1934.
Synopsis from notes accompanying Ogawa’s recording below:
From a Japanese Screen mixes Japanese and Chinese motifs that are unfolded like a folding
screen. The first part describes a
Geisha girl, the second flowers and birds, and the third Samurai warriors. The Japanese national anthem Kimigayo is displayed in the third section.
|
Medium |
Artists |
Label |
Format |
Country |
Date |
Gramophone Review |
Locations |
|
Piano |
Noriko
Ogawa |
BIS
CD 1045 |
CD |
Austria |
1999 |
Mar
00 p.84 |
NX,
TM |
|
Piano |
Markus
Staab |
private
recording |
Web |
Germany |
2011 |
|
|
|
Synthesized |
Stephen
Berry |
private
recording |
mp3 |
UK |
2016 |
|
PD, TM |
|
Orchestra |
BBC Concert Orchestra,
Yates |
Dutton Epoch CDLX 7407 |
CD |
UK |
2023 |
|
TM |
Ogawa can be heard at in a clip
lacking the final 36 seconds at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlRkk0zMw-M
Staab’s recording can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh47VOG7MCU
Berry’s orchestral
realisation can be heard at http://www.albertketelbey.org.uk/mp3/synth/From
a Japanese Screen orch synth.mp3
The BBC Concert Orchestra seems to be lacking percussionists – loose cymbal, Chinese drum and glockenspiel are all omitted.
Webpage last update 12 May
2023