Song-Cycles
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A COLLECTION OF SONGS (1963) Words by Betjeman, music by Donald Swann. A group of four Betjeman settings for baritone – approved by the author. Appropriately wistful, nostalgic and cheeky including a classic version of 'Miss Joan Hunter Dunn' ('A Subaltern's Love Song').
1. The Licorice Fields at Pontefract |
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THE ROAD GOES EVER ON (1967) Words by J.R.R. Tolkien, music by Donald Swann. A cycle of seven songs selected from THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, with Elvish calligraphy by Tolkien himself, written during the last two years of the AT THE DROP OF ANOTHER HAT tour. Donald often used 'I Sit beside the Fire' in the show and it can be heard on the Broadway video. The original cycle can be heard on commercial cassette with Donald accompanying Covent Garden baritone William Elvin. To the second edition Donald added 'Bilbo's Last Song'. An eighth Tolkein setting, 'Lúthien Tinúviel', can be found in THE SONGS OF DONALD SWANN: VOLUME 1 and was added to the third edition published by Harper Collins in 2002, which includes a free CD of the Elvin recording as well as bonus tracks of 'Bilbo's Last Song' and 'Lúthien Tinúviel'
1. The Road Goes Ever On
RECORDINGS: CASSETTE |
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THE POETIC IMAGE (1991) VICTORIAN SONG CYCLE. Eleven settings by Donald Swann with Images by Alison Smith. Joseph Horovitz in the Royal College of Music Journal says "A model of text-music-graphic book production".
FOUR LYRICS FROM IN MEMORIAM (Tennyson) |
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LAST SONGS (2001) Settings of William Blake, Edna St Vincent Millay and Emily Dickinson. Some of Donald's final and most beautiful compositions.
SIX SONGS TO POEMS BY WILLIAM BLAKE |
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