1975 JRR Tolkien reads and sings his The Lord of the Rings

The Two Towers and The Return of the King

Release Date: 1975.10
Reader: J.R.R. Tolkien
Language: English
Organisation: Caedemon Records
Catalog: TC 1478
Duration: 41 minutes
Unabridged: n/a
Country: UK
Licenced: Yes
Formats: Vinyl, CD, Digital

This continues the release of the 1952 Malvern recordings which began with TC1477 JRR Tolkien Reads and Sings His The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. In August 1952. Tolkien was staying with his friend George Sayer in Malvern. Sayer owned a Ferrograph tape recorder – a novel piece of technology at the time. Tolkien had never seen a tape recorder and was suspicious of it. He jokingly said he should “cast out any devil that might be in it” by recording the Lord’s Prayer in Gothic.

Sayer placed the microphone very close to Tolkien to compensate for his naturally thin, rapid speaking voice. This created an intimate and powerful audio profile that wasn’t entirely representative of his public speaking voice. It is technically superior in audio quality to TC 1477, as George Sayer had refined the levels on his Ferrograph recorder by the time they reached the later chapters.

Brian Sibley, reportedly used these Caedmon recordings as a “tonal reference” when he was writing the 1981 BBC script. He wanted to ensure the dialogue he wrote matched the natural cadence of Tolkien’s own speech.

Release History

Release is thought to be around October of 1975 following TC 1477 JRR Tolkien Reads and Sings His The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.

Coming soon…