Frederick Septimus Kelly: Piano Music

Discovery Club Members Save 30%!
Login or Join Today
£8.00 – £14.00

Catalogue No: TOCC0524
EAN/UPC: 5060113445247
Release Date: 2020-06-05
Composer: Frederick Septimus Kelly
Artists: Alex Wilson

Download the Booklet

Frederick Septimus Kelly, born in Sydney in 1881, was on the way to becoming one of Australia’s most important early composers when he was killed during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. His Twelve Studies and 24 Monographs are the most significant contributions to the Romantic piano literature by any Australian, although they have never been recorded in their entirety before now. The influence of Chopin and Skryabin is plain to hear, although the pastoral echoes of the gentler pieces suggest an affinity with his English contemporaries – men like Elgar, Ireland and Vaughan Williams – and the wild sweep of the more passionate numbers points to Kelly’s familiarity with the music of Brahms and Schumann. Each piece, though a ‘miniature’, contains a world of feeling and emotional resonance, suggesting that Kelly stood on the threshold of greatness.

Alex Wilson, piano

First recordings

Listen To This Recording:

    Twelve Studies, Op. 9 (1907–13)

  1. No. 1 Allegro maestoso
  2. No. 2 Scorrevole
  3. No. 3 Allegro grazioso
  4. No. 4 Allegro non troppo
  5. No. 5 Adagio espressivo
  6. No. 6 Tempo rubato
  7. No. 7 Allegro molto
  8. No. 8 Poco allegretto
  9. No. 9 Vivace e molto leggiero
  10. No. 10 Allegro moderato
  11. No. 11 Allegro commodo
  12. No. 12 Allegretto
  13. No. 12b Allegro

    14. 24 Monographs, Op. 11 (1914–16)

  14. No. 1 Allegro
  15. No. 2 Andante quasi allegretto
  16. No. 3 Poco allegretto
  17. No. 4 Maestoso
  18. No. 5 Adagio sostenuto
  19. No. 6 Espressivo
  20. No. 7 Allegro maestoso
  21. No. 8 Allegro molto
  22. No. 9 Allegretto con grazia, ma semplice
  23. No. 10 Molto agitato
  24. No. 11 Poco allegretto
  25. No. 12 Allegro agitato
  26. No. 13 Semplice, senza rigidità
  27. No. 14 Vivace ma non troppo presto
  28. No. 15 Allegretto pastorale
  29. No. 16 Andante con moto e sempre ben marcato
  30. No. 17 Allegretto grazioso
  31. No. 18 Allegretto sostenuto
  32. No. 19 Maestoso
  33. No. 20 Sofferente e sovento mancando – Allegretto
  34. No. 21 Grandioso e non troppo presto
  35. No. 22 Allegretto dolente
  36. No. 23 Con amore ma non senza sentimento
  37. No. 24 Allegro largamente

You Might Also Like

Kate Loder: Piano Music
Read More

Kate Loder: Piano Music

Adolf Busch: Complete Music for Solo Piano
Read More

Adolf Busch: Complete Music for Solo Piano

George Antheil: Piano Music, Volume One: Late Works, 1939–55
Read More

George Antheil: Piano Music, Volume One: Late Works, 1939–55

Emil Frey: Piano Music, Volume One
Read More

Emil FREY: Piano Music, Volume One

1 review for Frederick Septimus Kelly: Piano Music

  1. :

    ‘Kelly’s piano music has been rather overshadowed by his orchestral works and in particular his Elegy in memoriam Rupert Brooke which makes this release valuable in extending appreciation of this area of his compositional life. The notes are everything one could want in a project of this kind; Christopher Latham deals largely with the biography and the context in which the pieces were composed whilst Alex Wilson focuses on the specifics of the pieces played. He plays with disarming candour and charm and, as one would expect of him – who has performed Butterworth, Gurney, Ernest Farrar, Cecil Coles and others – he is a stylish exponent and has been finely recorded.’

    —Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

Add a review

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *