The Quest
Ballet in Five Scenes
General Information – Instrumentation – Manuscript – Publication – Arrangements – Adaptations – Recordings
General Information:
Composition: 1943
First Performance: Tuesday, 6 April 1943. New Theatre, London. Sadler's Wells Ballet, Ninette de Valois director. Sadler's Wells Touring Orchestra, Constant Lambert or Julian Clifford conductor. Alick Johnstone scenery; Alec Shanks costumes.
Duration: About 40 minutes
C. Number: C49
Instrumentation:
2 flutes (second doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (second doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons – 3 horns, 2 trumpets, trombone – timpani, 3 percussion – harp – celesta – strings
Published Version, ed. Christopher Palmer:
3 flutes (second and third doubling piccolos), 2 oboes
(second doubling English horn), 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons – 4 horns, 3 trumpets,
3 trombones, tuba – timpani, 5 percussion – 2 harps – piano (doubling
celesta) – strings
Manuscript:
Frederick
R. Koch Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale
University. Manuscript FRKF 605
FRKF 605a. Manuscript full score, in a copyist's hand. Also includes four pages
of orchestral score, apparently a transitional passage for use in the orchestral
suite. 230 pages.
FRKF 605b. Autograph full score, partly in a copyist's hand. Dated '29.3.43'.
186 pages.
William Walton Museum, Forio d'Ischia. Piano score.
Publication:
Oxford University Press. Performing version edited by Christopher Palmer, c.1990. Score and parts are available on hire.
The original version of The Quest remains unpublished.
Arrangements:
Adaptations:
The music for The Quest also formed the basis of the following ballet:
Recordings:
| Orchestra | Conductor | Year | Compact Disc | Timing |
| London Philharmonic [ed. Palmer] | Bryden Thomson | 1990 | Chandos CHAN 8871 | 41'56" |
| English Northern Philharmonia | David Lloyd-Jones | 2001 | Naxos 8.555868 | 39'42" |
For additional recordings of this music, see the following arrangement: