Dylan Thomas – Alto CD https://altocd.com Classical Music and Nostalgia CDs Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:46:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Christmas Poetry & Prose – read by Great Voices https://altocd.com/product/christmas-poetry-prose-read-by-great-voices/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:46:19 +0000 https://amuletts.com/altocd/?post_type=product&p=52430 Readers include:
Alec Guinness,
Robert Donat,
Richard Burton,
Dulcie Gray,
Dylan Thomas,
Robert Frost,
Annette Daniels Taylor,
Basil Rathbone,
Claire Bloom,
special Guest: Jonathan Jones

Catalogue Number:  ALN 1978
Number of Discs: 1
Date/Runtime: Time: 75:26 stereo & DDD
Barcode: 5055354419782

]]> “Few things capture Christmas as well as poetry, and many have become standard, including ones whose verses became carols too”

Preparations
1. Clement Moore: ‘Twas the Night before Christmas (A Visit from
St.Nicholas) / Basil Rathbone 3:15
2. Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods / Robert Frost 0:50
3. Robert Frost: Dust of Snow / (author) 0:17
4. Eugene Field: When Santa Claus Comes / Jonathan Jones 0:45
5. John Betjeman: Christmas / Alec Guinness 2:13
6. E.E. Cummings: Little Tree / Jonathan Jones 1:23
Seasonal Regrets
7. Emily Dickinson: ‘Twas just this time last year I died /
Annette Daniels Taylor 1:17
8. Alfred Lord Tennyson: Ring out Wild Bells !
(Canto CVI from In Memoriam A.H.H) / Jonathan Jones 2:05
9. Jill Furse: Carol / Robert Donat 0:42
10. Henry W. Longfellow: Christmas Bells / Jonathan Jones 1:59
Celebrations & Mythology
11. Edgar Guest: At Christmas / Jonathan Jones 2:23
12. Theodore Watts-Dunton: Wassail Chorus at the Mermaid
Tavern / Robert Donat 3:12
13. William Wordsworth: Minstrels / Jonathan Jones 1:02
14. Walter de la Mare: Mistletoe / Jonathan Jones 0:52
15. C.Day Lewis: The Christmas Tree / (author) 1:29
16. John Mason Neale: Good King Wenceslas / Jonathan Jones 1:54
Christmas Scenes
17. Shakespeare: When Icycles Hang / Claire Bloom 0:52
18. William Wordsworth: A Boisterous Winter Evening / Alec Clunes 2:20
19. Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Frost at Midnight /
Richard Burton & Dulcie Gray 4:39
20. Laurie Lee: Christmas Landscape / Jonathan Jones 1:40
21. Thomas Hardy: Snow in the Suburbs / Carleton Hobbs 1:06
22. James Stephens: Donnybrook / Lewis Jones 0:57
23. Odette Tchernine: The Snow / Dulcie Gray 1:08
Biblical
24. Hilaire Belloc: Noel / Robert Donat 1:27
25. Sara Teasdale: Christmas Carol / Jonathan Jones 1:16
26. T.S. Eliot: Journey of the Magi / Alec Guinness 2:33
27. Thomas Hardy: The Oxen / Robert Donat 0:42
28. Christina Rosetti: In the Bleak Midwinter / Jonathan Jones 1:51
29. John Alexander Chapman: Christus Natus Est / Robert Donat 1:14
30. Anon. Cherry Tree Carol / Alec Guinness 2:11
31. Anon. I Syng of a Mayden (‘Early Carol’) / Robert Donat 0:48
32. St.Francis of Assisi: Prayer / Robert Donat 1:52
Prose & New Year
33. Dylan Thomas: A Child’s Christmas in Wales / (read by author) 19:48
34. Robert Burns: Auld Lang Syne / Frederick Worlock 1:10
]]> Dylan Thomas reads his own Prose & More Poetry https://altocd.com/product/dylan-thomas-reads-his-own-prose-more-poetry/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:40:21 +0000 https://amuletts.com/altocd/?post_type=product&p=51502 Dylan Thomas reads his own Prose & More Poetry Dylan Thomas Catalogue Number: ALN 1937 Number of Discs: 1 Date/Runtime: ADD, 1951/3 Time: 78:50 ]]> “Thomas’ second volume Twenty-five Poems appeared in September 1936 by which time he had joined London’s bohemian society. The full meaning of his poetry – the human passage from womb to tomb – with its multiple and occasional over-dense use of compound adjectives through religious, sexual and natural imagery, continues for many readers to be obscure.” (J.Murray)

  • 1. Prologue 5.31
  • 2. A Refusal to Mourn the Death of a Child Killed
    by Fire in London 1.40
  • 3. The Force that Through the Green Fuse
    Drives the Flower…. 1.47
  • 4. Laugharne 4.21
  • 5. If I were Tickled by the Rub of Love 3.13
  • 6. In My Craft or Sullen Art 1.05
  • 7. Love in the Asylum 1.16
  • 8. Should Lanterns Shine 1.17
  • 9. Holiday Memory 18.06
  • 10. Quite Early One Morning 12.26
  • 11. Return Journey to Swansea (with supporting cast) 26.46
]]> Richard Burton reads Under Milk Wood (plus bonus poetry) https://altocd.com/product/richard-burton-reads-under-milk-wood-plus-bonus-poetry/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:40:21 +0000 https://amuletts.com/altocd/?post_type=product&p=51503 Richard Burton reads Under Milk Wood (plus bonus poetry) Richard Burton & original BBC cast (Under Milk Wood) Catalogue Number: ALN 1502 Number of Discs: 2 Date/Runtime: ADD; 1954 Time: 129:30]]> The famous original BBC production: includes Richard Burton; Richard Bebb; Hugh Griffith; Rachel Thomas; Diana Maddox; Dafydd Havard; Sybil Williams; Dilys Davies; Rachel Roberts; John Huw Jones & many more: songs set by Daniel Jones
Childrens’ songs and singing game recorded by children of Laugharne School. Produced by Douglas Cleverdon, first broadcast January 1954

  • CD 1 (69:12) CD2 (cont.)
  • [1] Intro  0.11 [6] The hand that signed the paper  1.06
  • [2] To begin at the beginning  4.33 [7] I see the boys of summer  2.52
  • [3] Captain Cat  17.23 [8] Lie still, sleep becalmed  1.21
  • [4] Time passes  23.09 [9] A Winter’s Tale  7.18
  • [5] Too late, cock  23.54

    • CD2 (60:12) Excerpt from ‘Homage To Dylan Thomas’

  • [1] Lord Cut-glass  2.37 (Memorial performance recorded at the
  • [2] The sunny slow lolling… 21.02 Globe Theatre, London 24th January 1954)
  • Richard Burton reads [10] A visit to Grandpa’s
    Dylan Thomas Poems, (Emlyn Williams)   17.30
    recorded 1954
  • [3] Hunchback in the Park  1.53 Produced by Tony Watts.
  • [4] Deaths and Entrances  1.48 Mastered by Paul Arden-Taylor
  • [5] Before I knocked  2.21 (www.dinmore-records.co.uk)
]]> Dylan Thomas reading Dylan Thomas https://altocd.com/product/dylan-thomas-reading-dylan-thomas/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:38:27 +0000 https://amuletts.com/altocd/?post_type=product&p=51207 Dylan Thomas reading Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas Catalogue Number: ALN 1912 Number of Discs: 1 Date/Runtime: AAD: 79:11]]> Thomas’s Bardic middle name of Marlais (from his paternal great uncle William) together with his poetic first name (Dylan comes from the Celtic epic Mabinogion) surely indicated that he was destined to become a poet? His parents were both fluent in Welsh but chose to bring their children up as English speakers: Thomas’ father taught English at Swansea Grammar school. In 1930 Dylan began his Notebooks which contained the draft workings of most of his poetry published before 1946. On leaving school (1931) he joined the South Wales Daily Post (but also) a local theatre group, and this training undoubtedly gave him a greater appreciation of the sound of language which marks his poetry. After the War, already experienced in BBC broadcasting, Thomas’ beautifully mellifluous and musical voice responded perfectly to the microphone.” (James Murray)

  • [1] Fern Hill – Rec.1952 4.04
  • [2] A Child’s Christmas In Wales – Rec. 1952 19.56
  • [3] A Winter’s Tale – Rec. 1952 11.57
  • [4] In The White Giant’s Thigh – Rec. 1952 5.19
  • [5] Ballad Of The Long-Legged Bait – Rec.1952 12.10
  • [6] Visit To America ; An Irreverent Preamble –
    Rec. 1953 10.41
  • [7] Poem On His Birthday – Rec.1953 6.53
  • [8] Lament – Rec.1952 4.34
  • [9] And Death Shall Have No Dominion –
    Rec.1952 2.04
  • [10] Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night – 1952 1.39
]]> Dylan Thomas reads Under Milk Wood https://altocd.com/product/dylan-thomas-reads-under-milk-wood/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:38:26 +0000 https://amuletts.com/altocd/?post_type=product&p=51205 Dylan Thomas reads Under Milk Wood Dylan Thomas with original New York Cast Catalogue Number: ALN-1501 Number of Discs: 2 Date/Runtime: AAD: 90:06]]> “ever since its first BBC broadcast in 1954, Under Milk Wood has shone a definitive, iconic and humerous light on small-town communities”

CD One (42.05)

  • [1] To begin at the beginning 20.14
  • [2] Time passes. Listen! 21.51

CD Two (47.51)

  • [1] People are moving up and down the cobbled streets 23.51
  • [2] In the blind-drawn dark dining room 24.00
]]> Dylan Thomas & Richard Burton read Dylan Thomas https://altocd.com/product/dylan-thomas-richard-burton-read-dylan-thomas/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 23:38:06 +0000 https://amuletts.com/altocd/?post_type=product&p=51158 Dylan Thomas & Richard Burton read Dylan Thomas Dylan Thomas Richard Burton Catalogue Number: ALN 1924 Number of Discs: 1 Date/Runtime: AAD, 78:35 1951-4 ]]> “Burton was greatly affected at the death of his favourite drinking companion, Dylan Thomas…..When Burton himself died in 1984 he was buried with a copy of Dylan Thomas’ Collected Poems.” James Murray

  • [1] Over Sir John’s Hill (rec.1951)
  • [2] A Few Words Of A Kind (rec.1951)
  • [3] Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines (rec.1953)
  • [4] The Hunchback In The Park (rec.1951)
  • [5] After The Funeral (rec.1953)
  • [6] In Country Sleep (rec.1953)

Above selection written and read by Dylan Thomas

  • [7] In my craft and sullen art
  • [8] The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
  • [9] A Winter’s Tale
  • [10] The hand that signed the paper
  • [11] The Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait
  • [12] Fernhill
  • [13] I see the boys of summer
  • [14] Lament
  • [15] Lie still, sleep becalmed
  • [16] Do not go gentle into that good night
  • [17] Poem in October
  • [18] And death shall have no dominion

Above selection read by Richard Burton (rec. 1954)

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