Multimedia | Gerard Manley Hopkins

Audio and Video

Users will remember that the “Poems” section besides photographs contains in many cases links (via “hear this poem”) to other multimedia contributions. In this section we include, in alphabetical order by poem title, readings or other renditions of almost all the poems included on this website, and also readings of a few poems not on the website (e.g. Lance Pierson’s “The May Magnificat”) or of a large section of Hopkin’s work (Cyril Cusack’s album). Also included are musical pieces associated either with Hopkinsian concepts (e.g. inscape) or again with poems or concepts not on the website.

Audio/Video Renditions of Poems

A

Poem: “As kingfishers catch fire”
Reader: Tom O’Bedlam

B

Poem: “Binsey Poplars”
Reader: Monica Lee

C

Poem: “Carrion Comfort”
Reader: Hugh Schwartzberg
Notes: Read at The Poetry Foundation

F

Poem: “Felix Randal”
Reader: Meg Harrington

G

Poem: “God’s Grandeur”
Reader: Richard Austin
Notes: This rendition combines both audio and video, showing Austin reading “God’s Grandeur.” Video by Tim Wilson, see www.goldenecho.ca.

Poem: “God’s Grandeur”
Reader: King Charles

Poem: “God’s Grandeur”
Composer: Paul Kelly
Notes: A music interpretation of the Hopkins poem, written and performed by Paul Kelly

H

Poem: “Heaven Haven”
Reader: Samuel Barber

Poem: “Henry Purcell”
Performer: Jennifer Foster

Poem: “Hurrahing in Harvest”
Performed by Richard Austin, Back to Beauty’s
Giver

I

Poem: “Inversnaid”
Reader: Tom O’Bedlam

M

Poem: “My own heart let me more have pity on”
Reader: Tone Forest

N

Poem: “No worst there is none”
Performed by Richard Austin, Back to Beauty’s
Giver

P

Poem: “Peace”
Reader: Ivan Bootham

Poem: “Pied Beauty”
Performer: Andrew Harvey

Poem: “Pied Beauty”
Reader: Zaklog the Great

R

Poem: “Ribblesdale”
Reader: Ivan Bootham

S

Poem: “Spelt from Sybil’s Leaves”
Reader: Ivan Bootham

Poem: “Spring”
Reader: Caitlin Fraser

Poem: “Spring”
Reader: Angela Janda

Poem: “Spring and Fall”
Reader: Tom O’Bedlam

Poem: “Spring and Fall: To a Young Child”
Composer: Natalie Merchant

Poem: “Spring and Fall”
Composer: Ned Rorem

Poem: “Spring and Fall”
Performer: Lorcan MacMathuna

T

Poem: “That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection”
Reader: Adam Harvey

Poem: “The Blessed Virgin Compared to the Air We Breathe”
Reader: Jonathan Roumie

Poem: “The Habit of Perfection”
Reader: Jonathan Roumie

Poem: “The Lantern out of Doors”
Reader: Kat Sawyer

Poem: “The Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo”
Reader: Richard Burton

Poem: “The Leaden Echo”
Composer: Leonid Desyatnikov

Poem: “The Sea and the Skylark”
Performance by: Eurythmy West Midlands

Poem: “The Starlight Night”
Reader: Jonathan Roumie

An outstanding contemporary performer of Hopkins is Lance Pierson. Although sadly he has recently passed away, his CD, this time of some of the lesser-known Hopkins poems, can still be purchased from his website at lpperformer@googlemail.com.

Poem: “The May Magnificat”
Performed by Lance Pierson

Poem: “The Windhover”
Reader: Matthew Higgins

“To R.B.”
Performed by Lance Pierson

Poem: “The Poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins”
Reader: Cyril Cusack
Notes: Famous actors from an earlier generation have also recorded Hopkins poems. A 1958 recording by Cyril Cusack
where he reads 19 of Hopkins’s poems.

Original Music

Here are links to original musical compositions based on specific Hopkins poems or concepts.

Title: “Mesmerised”
Composer: Jacques Bank

Title: “A Nun Takes the Veil”
Composer: Samuel Barber

Title: “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (A.M.D.G.)”

Composer: Benjamin Britten
Performers: IU Contemporary Vocal Ensemble

Title: “Three Inscapes”

Composer: Douglas Lilburn
Movement: “Three Inscapes: I.—”

Title: “Three Inscapes”
Composer: Douglas Lilburn
Movement: “Three Inscapes: II.—”

Title: “Three Inscapes”
Composer: Douglas Lilburn
Movement: “Three Inscapes: III.—”

Title: “Symphony No. 2”
Composer: Anthony Milner

Title: “Nondum”
Composer: Benedict Sheehan
Notes: Performed by The Chamber Choir of St. Tikhon’s Monastery