SIEGFRIED SASSOON
MEMORIAL TABLET CD audiobook (CD41-008)



CD41 is pleased to present a further addition to our catalogue of historic sound recordings from the Great War of 1914-18, with Memorial Tablet, a unique collection of readings by the celebrated writer and poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967). To purchase CD click here.

Recorded in the 1950s, Sassoon reads three extracts from his autobiographical prose works Memoirs of an Infantry Officer and The Weald of Youth, detailing with the outbreak of war in 1914 and his experience of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. He also recites ten of his best known war poems, including The Dug-Out, At Carnoy, Attack, Died of Wounds, 12 Months After, The Troops, Memorial Tablet, On Passing the New Menin Gate and To One Who Was With Me in the War.

Also included are readings of eight civilian poems, as well as commentary on his life and work by three other celebrated Great War writers, Edmund Blunden, Edgell Rickword and Henry Williamson.

The 60 minute CD also features the very first recording of Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto, made in December 1916 with Marie Hall on violin. The Violin Concerto was one of Sassoon's favourite compositions, and inspired him to compose a poem on first hearing it in January 1917. These acoustic recordings are also valuable in that they convey to the modern listener how classical music was performed (and heard on disc) at the time.

Memorial Tablet is a must for anyone with an interest in the Great War poets and the conflict generally, and is also ideal for library, museum, educational and battlefield tour use. All material by Siegfried Sassoon appears by kind permission of George Sassoon. The cover image is Harvest of Battle (1919), by C.R.W. Nevinson (courtesy IWM London).

Go to Siegfried Sassoon biography

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