Frederick Septimus Kelly: Piano Music

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

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)

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

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

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