Words For You

Product Description

CD Description

Words For You is a stunning collection of 27 of the greatest poems of all time, read by 12 of the best voices in British acting and set to the greatest classical music ever composed. Combining William Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 18’ read by Joanna Lumley with Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8, Robert Browning’s ‘Home Thoughts, From Abroad’ using the voice of Geoffrey Palmer with Dvorak Symphony No. 9 and the heartbreaking WH Auden’s ‘Stop All The Clocks’ read by Lindsay Duncan with Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 [III], Words For You brings together the best of the best of the best. Alison Steadman, one of the Words For You artists said, “I loved being involved in Words For You, it’s a great idea and I’m sure will help promote poetry.”

The artists involved have waived their royalty so that a proportion of proceeds from sales can go to I CAN, a UK charity that helps children who have difficulties speaking and understanding. Virginia Beardshaw, Chief Executive of I CAN, said; “Words come easily to many of us. Actors, especially, thrive on their mastery of the spoken word. Sadly, for a large number of children, the ability to use words is a real challenge. It is a struggle for them to learn and make friends. I CAN helps these children so they don’t get left out and left behind.”

The 27 poems featured on Words For You have been recorded by Joanna Lumley, Lindsay Duncan, Geoffrey Palmer, Honor Blackman, Brian Cox, Alison Steadman, Martin Shaw, Miriam Margolyes, Lennie James, Samantha Morton, Anthony Head and Ben Whishaw.
By : Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD
Price : £1.70

Product Details

• Audio CD (16 Nov 2009)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Island
• ASIN: B002RKXXLO
• Other Editions: MP3 Download
  

 

Words For You

 

Costumer Testimonials

OK, so you will not be hearing the opening line from Endymion here, but you will hear some of the most famous lines in English-language poetry in this 'celebration of the greatest poems and classical music, read by the finest voices of our time.' Such as:

'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? ...'

'Oh, to be in England/ Now that April's there, ...'

'Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, ...'

'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. ...'

'If you can keep your head when all around you/ Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, ...'

As it has been released this week, it is now possible to listen to this CD prior to reviewing it.

The actors involved in this recording have waived their royalties in favour of I CAN, the children's communication charity.

To a number of poetry lovers the sound of the poem is as critical to the meaning as the words on the page, and a collection of this sort, read by some of our very best-loved actors is most welcome. Though some of us will be content just to let these fantastic words and music wash over us, other individuals may want to reflect and ponder the poet's words. If you are like me, you will also want the printed words in front of you (although they are not included in the accompanying booklet).

There is no explanation of how these poems were chosen, though as can be observed, they comprise of the familiar as well as a handful of maybe lesser-recognized gems. The latter incorporate Rock Me To Sleep, accompanied by a heavenly excerpt from Schubert's Rosamunde, and Emily Bronte's Come Walk With Me and it is great to see integrated two poems from the sadly-missed Elizabeth Jennings. Quite a few of the poems have appeared repeatedly in popular anthologies in latest years for example, two-thirds of them had been included in the BBC book (and audio collection) The Nation's Favourite Poems published in 1996.

The background music has been meticulously selected for every certain poem, although possibly it works far better on some than others. There is an matter right here. In some poetry collections where music has been included the outcomes have not usually been appreciated, and indeed, considered by some to be too intrusive, even distracting. Nicely, clearly that is a matter of personal alternative. In this case the music is mostly well in the background.

The opening poem will be familiar not just from its origins, but also as Pete Seeger's 1960s trendy folk song Turn! Turn! Turn! Kipling's portentous If remains a fantastic favourite, even though I had to smile at both the selection of reader in Martin Shaw, and the music by Verdi. Nevertheless, I do favor this greater-paced version to the one particular I have read by John Nettles.

To Autumn is read more than a piece by Borodin by Ben Whishaw, who plays a fragile Keats in Jane Campion's new film Bright Star. Brian Cox impresses with his readings of Burns and The Lady Of Shalott (and I'm pleased to say we get the complete version). The excerpts from Greig function well behind DH Lawrence's On The Balcony, and hauntingly with Byron's She Walks In Beauty. Similarly, Mahler's sweeping strings lift Yeats's He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven, and Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, however is appropriately sombre behind Auden's Cease All The Clocks (or Funeral Blues). An sophisticated Nocturne excerpt from Chopin accompanies Silver, and Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending is most suitable for one more perennial (although poignant) favourite Adlestrop, written hardly 18 months just before Edward Thomas died in the trenches.

A plaintive cello piece backs this version of Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep, read movingly by one of our best-identified character actors, Miriam Margolyes. This poem has turn out to be a well-known favourite in latest years, At a single time believed to have been written by a serviceman killed in Northern Ireland, it has been attributed to a Baltimore housewife Mary Elizabeth Frye, written in the Thirties more than the grief of a buddy unable to return to Nazi Germany. An excerpt from Beethoven's 7th Symphony is played behind the angry Dulce Et Decorum Est ('The old Lie: ...') sounding each dramatic and poignant. Wilfred Owen's lines resonate in the words of The Last Post, the magnificent poem written by the new laureate, the superb Carol Ann Duffy, to mark the funerals earlier this year of the last veterans of the Great War. 'If poetry could certainly tell it backwards,/ then it would.' Ah, if only.

Nicely, there's no Housman, Eliot, Larkin or Hughes, to name but a handful of nor Anon, one other favourite of mine. But what we do have is a veritable treasure of words, music and voice to entertain, reassure, comfort and challenge as we look to the extended winter nights ahead - and beyond.

As the late Clifford T. Ward as soon as sang: 'I like the words they use, and I like the way they use them, ...'

Heard three poems from the CD on Breakfast Tv. The music in the background enhanced my enjoyment and brought tears to my eyes. Shall definitely order the CD and cannot wait to listen to it all the way by means of!

 

Words For You