Coronavirus Chronicles: The Tolkien collection grows

[lblanchard]

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeeee.....

This is a very early birthday present to myself, inspired sadly by the recent death of Ian Holm. It's a 13-CD set of the audio version of Lord of the Rings, adapted by Brian Sibley and broadcast in 1982. It has gone out of print, and I thought I should grab a used version before other Tolkienistas were similarly inspired. It arrived yesterday and I have ripped the CDs to iTunes and added to my iPhone. Ian Holm, who played Bilbo in the Peter Jackson films, played his nephew Frodo Baggins in the audio version.

How is this related to the Coronavirus, you may ask. I need to fill my ears with something while I'm on the exercise bicycle. Otherwise I get bored. Thirteen CDs will keep me pedaling for awhile.

Another Tolkien audio thing to note: I posted at some length a few weeks ago about the Donald Swann song cycle, "The Road Goes Ever On," in which he set several of J. R. R. Tolkien's poems to music. I found a lecture/recital of a young tenor who sang the full cycle. Now I've found the playlist of the original recording, piano by Swann himself and vocals by William Elvin. A final track on the YouTube playlist below is Bilbo's Last Song, played and sung by Donald Swann.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLyXYyeDNdJ1V4AGF7taf9xDzlOWOIzSse

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

I think you gave yourself the perfect early birthday present.
Happy peddling!

I do like that song! Thank you.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

The lyrics affect me only insofar as I know the backstory -- I agree with the critic who said they were rather banal. But the musical setting, although also a bit banal, blows me away.