Exemplary performances from broadcasts, live concerts, and archival sources not in general release

---

THE SEAL MAN

Clarke’s “songs” are quite often dialogue-scenes, theatrical narratives, or monodramas, and The Seal Man is all three at once. This extraordinarily urgent performance—by a baritone, Clarke’s favorite voice—is probably as close as we are likely to come to the blazing theatricality and thrilling diction of John Goss, one of The Seal Man‘s earliest and greatest exponents. (See our Gallery for an illustrated sample.) The piano is a coequal protagonist, as it should be, remembering that Clarke customarily worked with the likes of Arthur Rubinstein and Myra Hess. Newby and Lepper see to it that every syllable and tone is not only achingly clear, but also fully in line with Masefield’s text, including the external narrative frame, the backstory, and the heartbreaking little sequel that Clarke only implied.

---

SONATA (version for cello, arranged by Clarke and May Mukle)

An extraordinarily propulsive performance of the cello version—a full alternate to the original, for viola, carefully worked out by the composer and one of her closest colleagues, the world-famous “woman Casals”—that gives full value to the characteristically rich piano part, and handles those troublesome phrasing-commas to perfection. This Südwestrundfunk (SWR) broadcast, recorded at Schloss Ettlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on February 1, 2026, features Lionel Martin, cello, and Magdalene Ho, piano, in the Clarke, and Tianwa Yang, violin, in gorgeous pieces by Grieg and Elfrida Andrée.

Spoken introduction begins at 08:28; the Sonata—absolutely ablaze with that “atmosphere of youth and impetuosity” that Clarke built into it—at 10:56. Program notes below.