| Main Performers | Dylan Thomas - speaker,
Thomas Matthews - violin |
| Orchestra or Band | London Symphony Orchestra |
| Choirs | Morley College Choir (males voices) |
| Conductors | George Weldon,
Humphrey Searle,
P Racine Fricker |
| Set List | Overture - 'Rosamunde', Schubert,
'Violin Concerto in E Minor', Mendelssohn,
'Symphony No.1 in E Minor', Sibelius
INTERVAL
'The Shadow of Cain', Edith Sitwell (Morley College Choir (male voices), Dylan Thomas) |
| Performance Notes | This was the only performance by poet Dylan Thomas at the Hall - in November later this year he passed away. Edith Sitwell the author of 'The Shadow of Cain' was at the time in America and so Dylan was asked to recite the poem alone. He had previously recited the poem with Sitwell at the Palace Theatre, London.
Dylan appeared on stage but had wished to be offstage as he noted in a letter to Humphrey Searle, 'The whole piece is so hideously dramatic that the sight of a little fat speaker on the stage would, I think, detract from the dramatic value - (though it may, of course, add to the horror).'
The performance was broadcast by BBC Radio Third from 21:10-21:40.
(Source: 'Quadrille with a Raven - Memoirs', Humphrey Searle (Riverrun Press, 1985)). |
| Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/1953/5) |