Melodys of Earth and Sky - Julian Philips and Simon Kövesi interview | Toby Jones reads John Clare

Composer Julian Philips and poetry consultant Simon Kövesi discuss the upcoming album 'Melodys of Earth and Sky'; witty reworkings of music and text by John Clare, who is widely regarded as one of England's foremost poets of the natural world. Released in March 2022, the album explores the poetry and prose of Clare as reanimated by BAFTA-winning actor Toby Jones, paired with nine creative transcriptions from Clare's book of fiddle tunes based on melodies he collected on his travels, conceived for clarinet (Kate Romano) and violin (Ionel Manciu) by Julian Philips.

Julian Philips: 'Melodys of Earth of Sky' will be released on NMC Recordings on 25 March, 2022. Find out more and preorder now: https://nmc-recordings.myshopify.com/...

00:00 - Julian on his fascination with John Clare and the sense of music in his poetry
01:26 - Simon on Clare the musician and the oral tradition
02:42 - Simon on John Clare's song books
03:08 - Julian on how Toby Jones reads Clare, finding the music in the words
03:44 - Toby Jones reading a Clare poem whilst recording the album
04:36 - Simon on how Toby Jones got involved in the project
05:22 - Julian on his choice of instrumentation, capturing a domestic/intimate atmosphere
07:32 - Julian on the combination of music and text, the strange quirks of John Clare's notation
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'Melodys of Earth and Sky' was recorded at Stapleford Granary, Cambridge, June 2021.

Video by David Lefeber.