Last
updated
3-4-2007
I now have works by: Frederick Delius - Peter Warlock - Percy
Grainger - Badfinger - Anatol Liadov - Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Eric
Fenby - Leroy Anderson -
and Bill Thompson!
IMPORTANT UPDATE: The files currently on this page were prepared to sound good on a "BASIC" sound card, but most of them sound MUCH BETTER when played on a "WAVETABLE" sound card!! The instrument sounds are much more realistic. However, results will vary depending on your particular sound card.
Select and download the version appropriate for your sound card.
Here is a website where you can download and install a good virtual
synth on your PC: http://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth
The following files were sequenced by Bill Thompson unless otherwise noted. Download them - Listen to them - Enjoy them! Give me feedback via e-mail.
MIDI music files can be played on most Windows PC's just by clicking
on them in Windows Explorer. They do not exactly simulate orchestral
sounds, but they are a good means of getting an idea of what a work
sounds like.
NOTE: Delius was a master of orchestral color. Because of the limitations of the MIDI format, playing these MIDI files falls far short of capturing all the nuances of Delius' sound. The listener should seek out available orchestral recordings to fully appreciate the genius of Frederick Delius. My purpose in recording these files was twofold: to have Delius represented with MIDI files on the Web, and to hear approximations of unrecorded Delius works. Therefore most of the following are early, rare or unpublished works, as opposed to a "best of Delius" collection. The newer files are listed first. As you listen, try to imagine what they would sound like as played by a full orchestra.
Read Delius and
Warlock's correspondence about pianolas (player pianos)
Yu
Nakajima's OUTSTANDING Delius MIDI's and MP3's
in very realistic
orchestral sound!
NOTE: Beginning in 2001, I will be cooperating with Yu Nakajima to
produce Delius MP3's (from MIDI). He will be recasting my MIDI's of
unpublished Delius works, adding dynamics, processing them using his
Roland/Cakewalk system, then converting them to the MP3 format. This
allows all listeners to hear the performance as intended, in very
realistic orchestral sound.
Read an article
about our collaboration on this project.
Visit Yu
Nakajima's "Desktop Symphony Orchestra site (as archived by Bill
Thompson) to listen to Delius
works he has already sequenced and processed.
Some direct links to those files are also found below.
| Name and Description of Work | MP3 (Desktop Symphony Orch) |
MIDI |
| Piano Concerto in C
Minor - Original 3rd Movement World Premiere CD release (2006) |
MP3 file (DSO) - 14 MB |
100K |
| Petite Suite d'Orchestre [no.1], May 1889: | ||
| Marche
|
MP3 file
(DSO) - 2 MB |
25K |
| Berceuse
|
MP3 file
(DSO) - 3 MB |
5K |
| Scherzo
|
MP3 file
(DSO) - 3.5 MB |
28K |
| Duo
|
MP3 file
(DSO) - 3 MB |
11K |
| Tema con
Variazione
|
MP3 file
(DSO) - 3.8 MB |
19K |
| No other recording of this work is currently available. | ||
| Petite Suite d'Orchestre [no. 2], 1890: | ||
| Allegro ma non
troppo |
MP3 file (DSO) | 15K |
| Con
moto
|
MP3 file (DSO) | 36K |
| Allegretto
|
MP3 file (DSO) | 25K |
| No other recording of this work is currently available. | ||
| Legendes (Sagen) for
Piano and Orchestra - Unfinished Work from 1890 This work in some ways anticipates the Piano Concerto, and has
some very lovely passages for both the orchestra and piano. There are
sections where Delius finished the orchestra part but not the piano
part, and vice versa, and also the ending is unfinished. However, it is
very exciting to hear this work for the first time, even in its
unfinished form. No other recording is currently available. |
MP3 file (DSO) - 14 MB |
69K |
| Rhapsodic Variations for
Full Orchestra (45K) - Unfinished Work from 1888 This was Delius' next orchestral work after HIAWATHA. It is typical of his early style, with echoes of America throughout. Variations 4 and 6 are particularly worthwhile. Variation 7 is unfinished. No other recording is currently available. Introduction: Moderato (Measures 1-30) Variation 1. Tranquillo (Measures 31-60) Variation 2. Animato (Measures 61-81) Variation 3. Alla Negra, vivace ma non troppo (Measures 82-101) Variation 4. Eleganza (Measures 102-147) Variation 5. Agitato (Measures 148-187) Variation 6. Lento con gravita e molto expressione (Measures 188-214) Variation 7. Poco animato (Measures 215- unfinished) |
MP3 file (by Mottchan) - 9 MB |
45K |
| Summer Evening - This was the first Delius work I ever heard. "Emotion recollected in tranquillity." Composed in 1890, its companion pieces are "Winter Night (Sleigh Ride)" and "Spring Morning." | 38K | |
| Sakuntala - This was an early work (1889) for tenor and orchestra, setting a text by Holger Drachmann. The poem was based on a Sanskrit work "Sakuntala: The Fatal Ring - An Indian Drama in Seven Acts." World Premiere Recording (Soloist with orchestra) now available on Danacord CD DACOCD 536. | 31K | |
| Poem of Life and Love - Material from this "massive symphonic movement" (1918) was later used by Delius and Fenby in "Song of Summer" (1929). This is a two-piano arrangement by Balfour Gardiner and Eric Fenby of the orchestral score. An orchestral recording of this work was broadcast on the BBC in March 1999. | 72K | |
| Zum Carnival - This was Delius' first published work. It is a piano polka which was published in Jacksonville, Florida in 1885 while Delius resided at Solano Grove on the St. Johns River. | 15K | |
| Badinage - An unpublished piano piece from the late 1880's. It is similar in style to "Zum Carnival". I have utilized a copyist's manuscript, and there may be some erroneous notes, but I think I have gotten most of it right. I enjoyed finally getting to hear this!World Premiere recording by Charles Abramovic now available on DTR CD 2001. | 11K | |
| Closing Scene from KOANGA - One of my favorites of Delius. KOANGA is the stirring tale of an African prince brought to a plantation in antebellum Louisiana. The closing scene supports Sir Thomas Beecham's characterization of Delius as "the last great apostle of romance, emotion and beauty in music." | 23K | |
| Themes from HIAWATHA - Early orchestral work (1888). This work is unpublished and parts of it are now missing. I have compiled and arranged several themes from HIAWATHA to give an idea of the spirit of this work.Hear an orchestral recording of an excerpt from HIAWATHA | 22K | |
| La Quadroone - Early orchestral work (1889). World Premiere Orchestral Recording NOW AVAILABLE on Naxos CD 8.553535 | 36K | |
| Mountain Silence - Part Song (also known as On Craig Dhu) | 6K | |
| Idylle de Printemps - Early orchestral work (1889). World Premiere Orchestral Recording NOW AVAILABLE on Naxos CD 8.553535 | 41K | |
| Prelude to IRMELIN | ||
| Serenade from HASSAN | ||
| La Calinda from KOANGA |
Delius MIDI files sequenced by others:
Aquarelle #1 (Steven
Rauket)
Aquarelle #2 (Steven
Rauket)
Late Swallows
(Steven Rauket)
La Calinda (Art
Slater)
On Hearing the First
Cuckoo in Spring (C. Ikenoue)
Music by Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930):
Serenade for Strings "To Frederick Delius on his 60th Birthday" (1923) (27K)
Capriol: Suite for String Orchestra (1927) - Based on Dance Tunes from Arbeau's "Orchesographie"(1588):
Music by Percy Grainger
(1882-1961):
Grainger performed by others:
Music by Badfinger:
Music by Anatol Liadov (1843-1907):
Music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912):
Music by Eric Fenby
(1906-1997):
"No man loved a joke more than Rossini, and this overture parodying his earlier manner and based on the famous Yorkshire song "On Ilkla Moor baht 'at" and "Scarborough Fair," though making merry at his expense, is intended in praise of his genius."
Hear an orchestral
recording of "Rossini on Ilkla Moor"
Music by Leroy Anderson (1908-1975):
Leroy Anderson sequences by others:
Belle of the Ball (15K)
Blue Tango (13K)
Bugler's Holiday (38K)
Forgotten Dreams (5K)
Plink Plank Plunk (13K)
Sleigh Ride (46K)
Syncopated Clock (10K)
The Typewriter (12K)
Music by Bill Thompson (1953- ):
Back to The
Thompsonian Institution
