W.H. Auden: The Spoken Word (audio CD)
This 2 CD set was released to mark the centenary of W.H. Auden's birth. The two discs feature Auden in live and studio readings of his own poetry taken from rare BBC radio broadcasts.
Over 40 poems are included, from early works such as 'On This Island' and 'A Bride in the '30s', to mature masterpieces like 'The Shield of Achilles' and 'In Praise of Limestone'. The broadcasts span the period from 1936 to 1973 - the year of Auden's death - and are an essential purchase for anybody interested in study or enjoyment of one of the 20th-century's greatest poets.
The majority of the recordings have not previously been released.
Listen to a sample track using Windows Media Player:
W.H. Auden reads There Will Be No Peace, recorded 12 July 1961
Copyright Time and Tide 1956. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Curtis Brown Limited.
Review
'Eagerly awaited...the more you listen to him, the more you admire his fluency, his breadth and, above all, his intelligence. He was a virtuoso who wrote about everything - love and war and landscape and history and politics and sex and religion and Shakespeare and Yeats - in as many styles.
Sue Arnold, The Guardian
