EDUCATIONAL

POETRY AND SONG. AN ANTHOLOGY FOR CHILDREN, BOOKS 1 AND 2. Read by Tony Church, Chris Curran, Michael Hordern, Barbara Jefford, Richard Johnson, Eamon Keane, Laurie Lee, Peter Orr, Prunella Scales, William Squire, Gary Watson, Patrick Wymark. Sung by The Critics Group, Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger, Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge. Directed by Harley UsW. Argo Q DA50-5 0 ZDA50-5 (six 12 in., 166s. plus 29s. 6d. FT). Recorded in association with Macmillan & Co. Ltd. A booklet on this series entitled Poetry and Song in the Classroom will be available in November 1907.

These six records are the successors to the superb series called "Rhyme and Rhythm". Here we move roughly from Primary to Secondary schools, and once again the records run parallel with a set of books published by Macmillan. Argo also announce a booklet to be available in November. I can, of course, only give a subjective review of an anthology of this size and an indication of its scope. The first thing to be said is that the set is heavily infected with folk material, both ancient and modern, sung largely in the very personal style affected by Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl. There is no middle way here. If you, or your school, like this type of singing then all is well; if not, then it is difficult to recommend the set, for nothing could be more different from the musical settings in the first set, which whether solo or choral were delivered with natural 'open' throats. Here the tone is deliberately pinched and nasal, which thousands of people must admire. I enjoyed the modern ballads such as Hot Asphalt (roadmakers) and Poor Paddy (railwaymen), but as light relief nothing like as much as the comic verse by Belloc, Ogden Nash and a gem like Notting Hill Polka, by, of all people. W. Bridges-Adams, whose real claim to fame was as a theatre director. The singing of the choir of St. John's College, Cambridge, later in the set, is in the Anglican tradition and will not disappoint.

Michael Hordern and Prunella Scales are, as always, wonderful, though the latter seems to miss the point of Belloc's Python. Patrick Wymark, too, is splendid, and has a command of accent that helps to characterise much of the verse. He misfires in Auden's Night Mail, an onomatopoeic poem if ever there was one, and written to commemorate the centenary of the Travelling Post Office in 1938. The poems are conveniently grouped by subject. There are a great many animal poems, notably, and predictably, about cats, including a splendid piece by Hal Summers called The Rescue, superbly delivered by Michael Hordern. Readers may recall the story of the South African poet Elizabeth du Preez, who died when she was 15 and whose work was written while she was bed-ridden, paralysed, deaf and almost blind. When I first heard her work in the previous set I knew nothing of her story. It was simply clear that here was somebody who knew what poetry was about. There is more of her work here and it is of the same high standard. Christopher Smart is here as well as Wordsworth, and Thom Gunn as well as Walter de la Mare, while I cannot be alone in welcoming two poems by Edward Thomas, including Adlestrop . There is an extract from Crabbe's Peter Grimes, some robust cursings as well as comforting benedictions, and dear old McGonagall's Tay Bridge Disaster, read magnificently by MacColl. Laurie Lee reads his own Apples.

Something, then, for everybody, but because of the personal style of the folk singing hear a side first. Otherwise if these are the poems you want you will never hear them better spoken, and like me you should have many pleasant surprises. The production is worthy of Argo and I shall not be alone in appreciating the beautiful way in which Harley Usill has thought to close this great undertaking through the voice of Prunella Scales. R.W.