Description

Executive Producer: Mike Rosell

Reading, hearing, and rereading Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows has been a principal joy for me since my mother first read this book to me when I was four years old. We still have that hardcover edition. I was the same age as Kenneth Grahame’s son when his father first created Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad, and told him these bedtime stories. I dedicate this audio book to my sweet mother, Linda, who introduced her children to great literature, including Wind in the Willows.

Kenneth Grahame first published Wind in the Willows in 1908. Our world looked very different in 1908. Argentina opened Teatro Colon in that year, the “finest opera house in the world,” to which Caruso, and later Callas would travel during the “summer season.” World War I was not yet on the horizon, or barely. We nostalgically portray the Edwardian period romantically. And indeed, Grahame captures this golden age of long summer afternoons and garden parties among the scenes and seasons of his precious novel.  Please read more in our Album Booklet.

Yarlung recorded this book in the Arian Jansen studio, using the Hapi by Merging Technologies, and Pyramix software recording in DSD 256.

This is overkill for sure, for an audio book. Toad would have been proud of me. I thank my friend Mike Rosell for the album cover and artwork.  Rosell pays homage to the great characters depicted by Ernest H. Shepard in the 1931 edition of the book published by Methuen & Co. Ltd. London. Mike too grew up with Mole and Ratty and Toad. He joins me in saluting them.

We dedicate this audio book to my sweet mother Linda Attiyeh, who left us in November of 2021.  She introduced her children to great literature, including Wind in the Willows.  I intended to dedicate it to her during the recording process and surprise her with it as a gift for Christmas in December, which was about five weeks after her death.  Reading, hearing and rereading Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows has been a principal joy for me since my mother first read this book to me when I was four years old.  We still have that hardcover edition.  I was the same age as Kenneth Grahame’s son when his father first created Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad, and told him these bedtime stories.

Linda Attiyeh served as a secret and unheralded underwriter for many Yarlung recordings from Yarlung’s inception.  Her enthusiasm for our musicians, and especially for new music, inspired us to ever greater work.  May this audio book be a kind remembrance for a lovely person who graced our lives, and especially my life, with eternal optimism and energy.

–Bob Attiyeh

The eminent reviewer Rushton Paul listened in DSD to Wind in the Willows within hours of the album’s release.  He writes “I grew up with The Wind in the Willows and now have the perfect way to share it with my grandchildren, ages 7 and 9. They’ve listened thus far to Bob Attiyeh’s delightful reading of Chapter 1: The River Bank and Chapter 2: The Open Road. And they can’t wait for more…. Bob’s quiet articulate voice takes us on the marvelous adventures created by Kenneth Grahame in the 1908 first publication of these stories. Bob’s narration is simple and direct, without any effort to emulate voices made up for the characters—no, he just reads the story with nice pacing and good inflection, pausing appropriately for dramatic effect.  But otherwise, no hyperbolic shenanigans.  Thank you, Bob!

“We can certainly debate whether Grahame’s stories are truly stories for children. Many have argued the issue because these stories have such complexity and include schemes of such questionable ethical values, that one can argue they are better morality tales for adults…. Thank you for this gift.”