Ketèlbey: In a Persian Market; In a Monastery Garden; In a Chinese Temple Garden

This album has a selection of 10 different songs by Albert Ketèlbey, and it features some of his best works. This is a digital recording, and it was released on Philips in 1983, and it was originally released in 1982.

## Details

Albert W. Ketèlbey (1875-1959)

1. **"In a Chinese Temple Garden"** (Publishers: Bosworth & Co., Ltd.) - 6:52
2. **"In a Monastery Garden"** (Publishers: Larway & Co.) - 5:29
3. **"Sanctuary of the Heart"** (Publishers: Bosworth & Co., Ltd.) - 5:08
4. **"Bank Holiday"** ('Appy 'Ampstead) (Publishers: Bosworth & Co., Ltd.) - 2:47
5. **"Dance of the Merry Mascots"** (Publishers: Bosworth & Co., Ltd.) - 6:44
6. **"In a Persian Market"** (Publishers: Bosworth & Co., Ltd.) - 6:47
7. **"In the Mystic Land of Egypt"** (Publishers: Bosworth & Co., Ltd.) - 6:27
8. **"Bells across the Meadows"** (Publishers: Keith Prowse, Ltd.) - 4:38
9. **"The Clock and the Dresden Figures"** (Publishers: Bosworth & Co., Ltd.) - 3:59
10. **"With Honour Crowned"** (Publishers: Bosworth & Co., Ltd.) - 5:20

Total length: 54 Minutes

* Tenor (7): Laurence Dale
* Pianist (5 & 9): Michael Reeves
* Choir (1, 2, 6 & 7): Ambrosian Chorus
* Chorus Master: John McCarthy
* Orchestra: London Promenade Orchestra
* Conductor: Alexander Faris

Recorded: London, 8/1981

Illustration: Martin Baker

Catalogue Numbers:

* CD: 400 011-2
* LP: 6514 152
* Cassette: 7337 152

## Liner Notes

It was in the great era of the silent films that Albert W. Ketèlbey developed his remarkable talent for writing the evocative pieces of "programme" music that were to make him rich and famous. These compositions, conjuring up, as they do, the atmosphere of the Orient, of China, Persia or Egypt, or the sounds of a temple, a monastery, or a market, made an ideal accompaniment to any film set in an exotic foreign land.

Albert Ketèlbey was born in Birmingham on August 4, 1875. At the age of 11 he composed a piano sonata which was praised by Sir Edward Elgar. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, London, where he showed a talent for playing a wide range of orchestral instruments. With such versatile practical skills he soon acquired the facility for colourful orchestration which is so evident in the series of works here recorded.

At 16 Ketèlbey became a church organist, and was soon making appearances as a concert pianist. He was appointed musical director at London's Vaudeville Theatre, and continued to write vocal and instrumental music of all kinds. But it was not until 1915, when he was 40, that he wrote "In a Monastery Garden", the first of his lastingly popular compositions. Before long, his success with this type of work, enabled him to relinquish his London appointments.

He moved to the Isle of Wight, where he lived quietly, concentrating on his writing, and enjoying his favourite hobby of playing billiards, until he died, at the age of 84, on November 26, 1959.

The popularity of compositions such as "In a Monastery Garden", "In a Persian Market" and "In a Chinese Temple Garden" has tended to overshadow other works by Ketèlbey and on this record a representative view is presented showing all aspects of the composer's versatility. Although in some works he uses extraneous noises - a bird whistle in "In a Monastery Garden" and rattles in "Bank Holiday" - these are only meant to be incidental to the already strongly atmospheric nature of these programmatic compositions.

Ketèlbey's style ranges from the light, classical, ambience of "The Clock and the Dresden Figures" to the grand, ceremonial (and very English) pomp and circumstance of "With Honour Crowned". A tongue-in-cheek humour too is apparent in pieces like "In a Chinese Temple Garden" - at one stage the orchestra is directed to shout "Chinese" phrases intending to create the hustle and bustle of a Shanghai market-place - and in "Bank Holiday" ('Appy 'Ampstead) where the sounds of brass bands and barrel-organs compete to provide an almost Ivesian evocation of a street party in London.

Many arrangements exist of Ketèlbey's music utilising pianos, parlour quartets, small chamber ensembles, and full symphony orchestras and it is a measure of Ketèlbey's compositional skill and techinque that no matter what combination is used, the music still retains its charm and originality. Above all, it is a nostalgic journey into a more genteel period of time and, as such, cannot be surpassed.

*Brian Jones*

## Links

For the playlist of the album, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6eNs6Hpo0M&list=OLAK5uy\_lYlUFwl0lcL5YuXAY4U7NRrmUFvddxogs

For more details on the album, click here: https://www.deccaclassics.com/en/catalogue/products/ketelbey-in-a-persian-market-faris-3090

For the official Decca Classics website, click here: https://www.deccaclassics.com/en