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2CD
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MARVEL 001CD
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2014 release; released to coincide with the centenary of Dylan Thomas's birth on October 27, 1914. Cerys Matthews writes: "Dylan Thomas was always present in my life -- we shared the same view of the crescent shaped Swansea bay, and my uncle Colin Edwards amassed the largest amount of interviews on him, starting in the years following Dylan's tragic death in New York City. Colin would talk to us about him for hours, and it wasn't long before I too fell for his magical, maverick voice. 'The world is never the same place once a good poem has been added to it'. Said Dylan, who never prefaced his readings with explanations, but rather with a simple 'I am going to read aloud now'. Reading his work aloud, feeling those syllables roll around your mouth with the rhythms finding their own ebb and flow is one of life's greatest pleasures. In Welsh (and similarly in Somali) there is only one word to cover both music and poetry -- the powerful, transformative qualities of each have always lead me to treat them both with a similar approach. I often hear music when I read great writing, especially Dylan's, which is so infused with melody and rhythm, and so the idea for this project was born. Jeff Towns, Chairman of the Dylan Thomas Society, and owner of the one and only 'Dylan Thomas Mobile Book Bus' has written the notes on the poems, excerpts and short story released in this double album and also generously shares with us some of his wonderful collection of Dylan Thomas photographs and illustrations. Choosing the works presented here seemed to come naturally, some are familiar, some more obscure. As for 'A Child's Christmas in Wales'? Well, I've always loved the matrimony of music and narration in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and dreamed, many years ago, that 'A Child's Christmas' should also 'dance' with music. Together with composer and arranger Mason Neely from Chattanooga, I began working toward this goal. With the help of some of the country's leading players and soloists -- Catrin Finch on harp, Alice Neary on cello, and David Adams on violin, we made this a reality. Tiger eggs indeed." Includes the whole of A Child's Christmas in Wales and poems including "Fern Hill," "Do not go gentle into that good night," and "And death shall have no dominion."
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