AVAILABLE NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME ON COMPACT DISC:

JOHN MASEFIELD’S FIRST COMMERCIAL RECORDING.

‘a revolutionary gesture’ The Times

‘in a sense… the most important record ever issued in the history of the gramophone’ The Gramophone

£5.99

In 1959 the Argo Record Company released the Poet Laureate’s first commercial record. It was an LP that was to make recording history in being the first time a major work was released as a sound recording prior to publication.

The poem, entitled The Story of Ossian, was based on the Irish legend surrounding Finn MacCoul and his son Ossian. The tale tells of Finn’s marriage in old age and subsequent carnage among his followers. Ossian escapes from the earth with Niamh, a radiant creature, to live in timeless ecstasy but eventually returns to earth after three centuries…

With a playing time of just over an hour the recording was hailed as ‘a triumph’ and a ‘revolutionary gesture’. The Times noted that ‘it is… Masefield’s mastery of clear-cut energetic narrative that enables him to command unbroken aural attention’.

The original record has been out-of-print for decades but now, by arrangement with The Society of Authors as the literary representative of the Estate of John Masefield, the recording is available once again. Original LP source material has been digitally restored and is issued for the first time on compact disc. This is a recording over fifty years old and made before modern advances in digital technology. However, the restored sound is much clearer than the original record. There are occasional blemishes in places, but nothing to detract significantly from your listening pleasure. A further advantage is that the listener does not need to turn over the record! The full hour-long narrative is presented on a single CD (with four-page booklet and liner notes including an introduction by Masefield himself).This important privately issued CD is only available from the archivist of The John Masefield Society for a limited time. Please use the order form below. Why not stock-up for birthday and Christmas presents?

To: Dr. P.W. Errington, 31 Somerset Avenue, West Wimbledon, London, SW20 0BJ

Please send me …… copy / copies of The Story of Ossian on CD at £5.99 each (postage and packing an additional £1.00 per copy).

I enclose a cheque (payable to ‘Dr. P.W. Errington’) for £……………

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