MICHAEL MAGLARAS: Snow-Bound

Michael Maglaras

Snow-Bound

© 2006 217 Records

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A contemporary recording of this classic epic poem by American poet John Greenleaf Whittier.

tracks

1 The sun that brief December day...
2 The moon above the eastern wood...
3 Our mother, while she turned her wheel...
4 There, too, our elder sister plied...
5 Another guest that winter night...
6 So days went on: a week had passed...

notes

"Bravo!" exclaims the Whittier scholar and well-known author and biographer Brenda Wineapple about this first-ever recording of John Greenleaf Whittier's masterpiece,"Snow-Bound."

Whittier's poetic remembrance, told as an old man, of the great blizzard that entombed his family and his family's guests in their Haverhill, Massachusetts farmhouse in the early 19th century, has waited more than 150 years for its first recording.

A hundred years ago, Whittier was America's favorite poet. Abolitionist, free-thinker, great American...and, most importantly, the man who captured best the soul and sprit of 19th century America. "Snow-Bound" is a beautiful, narrative poem of one family's experience at being cut off from the outside world for three days: long before the days of electronic communications, they entertained each other through the telling of stories, which Whittier lovingly remembers and which enliven and illuminate the personalities of the family members and take us back to what it was like in 19th century America.

This recording features a complete copy of the text, and is set to the music of Charles Ives's piano masterpiece "The Concord Sonata."

Read by musician, actor, and filmmaker Michael Maglaras...this is Volume One in the Whittier Bicentennial Recording Project, honoring the 200th anniversary (in 2007) of John Greenleaf Whittier's birth.

reviews

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  • Snow-Bound
    author: Proud Primate

    A fine reading/production. Very well conceived and the period is well treated. The only flaw I noticed was the mispronunciation of "mows" (l. 21), which Whittier properly rhymed with "cows", but the reader pronounced as if it rhymed with "crows". ("Meanwhile we did our nightly chores, Brought in the wood from out the doors, Littered the stalls, and from the mows Raked down the herd's-grass for the cows;) I suspect he spent little time on a farm, if he never played in the hay mow, (thus getting no barley beards in his underwear).

  • I'm blown away by the surreal quality of this recording!
    author: Curt Gleme

    I'm blown away by the surreal quality of this recording!I have listened to this 5 or 6 times...and each time it's better. Michael Maglaras has created a real work of genius.

  • This is a memorable effort.
    author: Prof. Mary Dolvin

    This is a memorable effort...the use of the music of Ives works in some places a little better than others...but I'm carping. A wonderful performance.

  • i think what michael maglaras is doing for american poetry is nothing short of b
    author: michel st. pierre

    i love whittier....he is an awesome poet and i think what michael maglaras is doing for american poetry is nothing short of brilliant.

  • What a beautiful voice....
    author: Barbara

    What a beautiful voice. I loved the CD - it was just so wonderfully done. It was such a blessing to find this! Thank you Michael and Thank you CD Baby.

  • A magnificent recording of a much neglected poet
    author: Audio Monthly

    Listening to this new recording of Whittier's epic poetic masterpiece,Snow-Bound, I was transfixed...on a cold winter day I can think of nothing better than this journey that the great poet and Michael Maglaras take us on....what a wonderful and transcendent experience...I award this, happily, with 5 STARS!

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