The first published book of Bilbo’s Last Song on its own has been shown previously in the thread, here is the paperback version. The book is illustrated by the artist Pauline Baynes.
The earliest recording of Bilbo's Last Song seems to be that of Donald Swann's performance at Church House, Westminster on 2 March 1977, at the 'Facets of Lewis' gathering held to mark the publication of C.S. Lewis's The Dark tower and Other Stories. The session was recorded, and later issued as a CD-R in The Inklings Archives (noted here), in a limited edition of 100.
The liner note for the recording states that 'Donald Swann's piano sounds very wobbly, and his playing ends abruptly because of a fault in the tape', but the piano sounds good enough given the general quality of the sound, and although the recording ends abruptly it does so at the instant after the song's final note, so nothing is lost.
The earliest commercial recording of Bilbo's Last Song is on the first of the three cassette tapes comprising Donald Swann's Alphabetaphon: An Alphabetical Trilogy - briefly mentioned here - on which Donald performs songs of his own composition and others he found meaningful or enjoyable, beginning (alphabetically by title) with Harry Chapin's 'All My Life's a Circle'. Tolkien's 'I Sit beside the Fire' is on cassette 2. The tapes were self-published on Albert House Cassettes, Swann's own 'label', in 1990.
Another rare recording of Bilbo's Last Song is on the second of two cassette tapes capturing the concert 'Swannalogue: An Evening of Words and Music by Donald Swann', performed at Southend-On-Sea on 27 February 1993. The song comes at the end of the full 'Road Goes Ever On' song cycle, sung by bass-baritone Clive McCombie and the Luthien Chorale, with pianist Patricia Williams. Donald introduces the music. The lyrics to all of the songs were included in the concert's printed souvenir programme.
John Amis's Amiscellany, mentioned earlier in this thread as a CD, was also issued on cassette.
Wayne
The liner note for the recording states that 'Donald Swann's piano sounds very wobbly, and his playing ends abruptly because of a fault in the tape', but the piano sounds good enough given the general quality of the sound, and although the recording ends abruptly it does so at the instant after the song's final note, so nothing is lost.
The earliest commercial recording of Bilbo's Last Song is on the first of the three cassette tapes comprising Donald Swann's Alphabetaphon: An Alphabetical Trilogy - briefly mentioned here - on which Donald performs songs of his own composition and others he found meaningful or enjoyable, beginning (alphabetically by title) with Harry Chapin's 'All My Life's a Circle'. Tolkien's 'I Sit beside the Fire' is on cassette 2. The tapes were self-published on Albert House Cassettes, Swann's own 'label', in 1990.
Another rare recording of Bilbo's Last Song is on the second of two cassette tapes capturing the concert 'Swannalogue: An Evening of Words and Music by Donald Swann', performed at Southend-On-Sea on 27 February 1993. The song comes at the end of the full 'Road Goes Ever On' song cycle, sung by bass-baritone Clive McCombie and the Luthien Chorale, with pianist Patricia Williams. Donald introduces the music. The lyrics to all of the songs were included in the concert's printed souvenir programme.
John Amis's Amiscellany, mentioned earlier in this thread as a CD, was also issued on cassette.
Wayne
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