Melodys of Earth and Sky: the creative synergy between music and words

9th March 2022

Films NMC Recordings

Artists whose work straddles both words and music are uniquely fascinating, none more so than nineteenth-century poet John Clare

Melodys of Earth and Sky – the first physical NMC release of 2022 – is due out at the end of March, and explores the poetry and prose of Clare as reanimated by BAFTA-winning actor Toby Jones. Jones's readings are paired with nine creative transcriptions from Clare's book of fiddle tunes based on melodies he collected on his travels, conceived for clarinet and violin by Julian Philips.

In this interview with Philips and poetry consultant Simon Kövesi they dive into the themes explored by the album, such as finding music within Clare's poetry, how Toby came to be involved in the project, and capturing a uniquely intimate, domestic atmosphere in the music.

Melodys of Earth and Sky comes out on 25 March - find out more and preorder your copy of the CD here.

Find out more about 'Melodys of Earth and Sky'

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