SIEGFRIED SASSOON
MEMORIAL TABLET CD audiobook (CD41-008)

...

CD41 is proud to expand our catalogue of historic WW1 sound recordings with Memorial Tablet, a unique collection of readings by the celebrated writer and poet Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967). To purchase this 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.

The 57 minute CD also includes readings of eight postwar civilian poems by Sassoon, as well as commentary on his life and work by three other celebrated Great War writers: Edmund Blunden, Edgell Rickword and Henry Williamson. These readings are punctuated by the very first recording of Edward Elgar's celebrated Violin Concerto, made in December 1916 with Marie Hall on violin. The piece was a favourite of Sassoon, 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 poetry of the Great War 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).

Full tracklist:
1 Elgar: Violin Concerto (andante) 4.04
2 July 31st 1914 (extract from The Weald of Youth) 3.59
3 The Dug-Out 0.37
4 At Carnoy 0.37
5 Attack 1.01
6 Died of Wounds 0.49
7 12 Months After 0.53
8 Prelude: The Troops 1.50
9 Elgar: Violin Concerto (cadenza) 3.39
10 July 1916-The Somme (extract from Memoirs of an Infantry Officer) 5.02
11 Memorial Tablet 1.01
12 On Passing the New Menin Gate 1.11
13 To One Who Was With Me in the War 2.37
14 Elected Silence 0.43
15 1919 - After the War Mood (extract from Siegfried's Journey) 2.40
16 Edmund Blunden 3.06
17 Edgell Rickword 2.41
18 Henry Williamson 2.28
19 Elgar: Violin Concerto (allegro) 3.58
20 April 1905 - Early Life (from The Weald of Youth) 3.32
21 The Merciful Knight 1.00
22 Vigils (Pt 9) 0.54
23 Two Old Ladies 1.01
24 Vigils (Pt 8) 0.42
25 The Heart's Journey (Pt 7) 0.37
26 Vigils (Pt 7) 1.07
27 Acceptance 0.36
28 The Hardened Heart 0.36
29 Elgar: Violin Concerto (allegro molto) 3.52



Sassoon's reading of Attack also appears on Artists Rifles (CD41-009), an collection of readings by some of the leading war poets as well as music by those who served in the conflict. The 75 minute CD also features readings by Edmund Blunden (Concert Party, Busseboom), Robert Graves (Dawn Bombardment), Laurence Binyon (For the Fallen), David Jones (In Parenthesis) and Edgell Rickword (Winter Warfare and The Soldier Addresses His Body), as well as music by George Butterworth, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ernest Moeran, Arthur Bliss, Cecil Coles, Edward Elgar, Maurice Ravel and Gustav Holst. The poetry of Wilfred Owen and Ivor Gurney is also represented. For further details of this CD click here.

Go to Siegfried Sassoon biography
Go to CD41 shopping/mailorder
Return to CD41 homepage