Albert Ketelbey
It is possible, if perhaps not likely, that when British composer and conductor Albert William Ketèlbey died in 1959 at the age of 84 he had somehow heard some of then-young Henry Mancini's suave music. If so, perhaps the aged Ketèlbey was able to recognize that the mid-twentieth century was getting from Mancini something quite like what his own generation got from him many years earlier: music that aims to please not through depth of content, academic pretension or gritty progressivism, but by virtue of lightheartedness, charm, and thoroughly fine craftsmanship.
Ketèlbey showed remarkable musical gifts while still a young boy. There is an anecdotal tale (for once probably true!) of how 11-year-old Ketèlbey wrote and publicly performed a full-length piano sonata and received the blessing of Edward Elgar for his efforts. Two years after that he received a scholarship to Trinity College, and at 16 he was named the new organist at St. John's Church in Wimbledon. Ketèlbey took to conducting musical theater shortly before the turn of the new century, which no doubt helped redirect his compositional interests toward light music.
Over the first couple decades of the twentieth century, Ketèlbey issued a hearty stream of pseudo-programmatic orchestral works; pieces like The Phantom Melody (1912) and In a Chinese Temple Garden (1923) were very popular in their day, and earned Ketèlbey enough money to eventually purchase and retire to an estate on the Isle of Wright. He also composed a comic opera, the Wonder Workers (1900), and several "serious" concert pieces, including a String Quartet and a Concert-Piece for piano and orchestra. Ketèlbey used pseudonyms for some of his music.
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Discography
5 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Ketèlbey: Bells across the Meadows
Slovak Philharmonic Male Chorus, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sylvia Capova, Adrian Leaper, Albert Ketelbey
Classical - Released by Naxos on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
KETELBEY: Tangled Tunes (Ketelbey) (1913-1938)
Concertos - Released by Naxos on 5 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
'The Golden Age of Light Music: British Cinema and Theatre Orchestras
Classical - Released by Guild GmbH on 1 Oct 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
KETELBEY: In a Monastery Garden (Ketelbey) (1924-1932)
Classical - Released by Naxos on 30 Jul 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In a Monastery Garden
Classical - Released by CTS Digital on 24 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo