New audio releases from the British Library
On 10 September 2008, the British Library releases the latest additions to its popular series of literary spoken word CDs, featuring previously unpublished BBC broadcasts of acclaimed British poets Edith Sitwell and George Barker.
The Spoken Word – Edith Sitwell
Edith Sitwell was the queen of twentieth-century English poetry, majestically attired in performance and distinctly regal in her delivery. Drawing on previously unpublished BBC broadcasts, this CD presents a complete programme from 1948 in which she discusses her poetry in great technical detail - illustrating her talk with performed poems and extracts - and a live poetry performance recorded at the Aldeburgh Festival of 1956. Among the poems she reads are 'Aubade', 'Dark Song', 'The Youth with the Red-Gold Hair' and 'The Canticle of the Rose'. The collection is completed with a recording of 'Still Falls the Rain', perhaps her most popular poem, taken from a 1946 disc issued with the aim of improving cultural relations with the U.S.S.R.
The Spoken Word – George Barker
T.S. Eliot described George Barker as a genius, and W.B. Yeats compared his rhythmic invention to that of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Drawing primarily on previously unpublished BBC broadcasts spanning the years 1952 to 1982, this CD presents Barker performing some of his best-known poems. The set begins with The True Confession - the broadcast of which was controversial enough to provoke comment in the House of Lords - and includes several moving memorials to dead friends and fellow poets, his early mentor Eliot among them. The set climaxes with an extract from a live recording made by the British Library in 1983. Clearly in a rumbustious mood, Barker starts and abandons a series of his early poems before delivering an electrifying reading of his elegy 'At the Wake of Dylan Thomas'.
For further information, review copies, images or interviews, please contact Ruth Howlett at the British Library Press Office: +44 (0)20 7412 7112 or ruth.howlett@bl.uk
Notes for Editor
The Spoken Word – Edith Sitwell and The Spoken Word – George Barker are published by the British Library on 10 September 2008. Price £9.95 each, one CD with booklet including introductory essay, 71 and 72 minutes running time, respectively. ISBN 978 0 7123 0548 8 and ISBN 978 0 7123 0540 2.
Available from the British Library Shop (tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7735 / e-mail: bl-bookshop@bl.uk) and online at www.bl.uk/shop as well as other bookshops throughout the UK. Co-published with Hendrickson Publishers, USA.
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