Wednesday 11 May 2011

Haydn Wood: the Isle of Man Works

I was looking over the Irish Sea the other day from North Wales, and could clearly see the Isle of Man. It is a place that I love, but have not been as often as I would like to. I did think about the works that the Yorkshire-born Haydn Wood wrote whilst living and working on that great Isle.
When I got back home to London, I listened to the four works that have been recorded. Each of them is a worthy tone-poem, that in spite of using local ‘folk tines’ never becomes parochial. They are pieces that deserve recognition and study. It is a task that I will try to consider over the coming months.
According to
HaydnWoodMusic.com there are another three works that have not yet been recorded. I have linked to the CD pages where the work is currently available.

A Manx Rhapsody (1931). 
Mannin Veen, Dear Isle of Man, A Manx Tone Poem (1933).
'King Orry' (1939).
'Manx Countryside Sketches' (1943).
'A Pageant of the Isle of Man' (1951).

As a taster I provide a link to a YouTube recording of 'A Manx Rhapsody'.

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