Prompted and supported by the leading Dylan Thomas expert John Goodby, this recording brings together several exciting compositional voices in British music in a re-visiting and re-presentation of the poetry of Dylan Thomas through the medium of song.

Dylan Thomas (1914-53) is one of the best-known poets of the twentieth century, the author of such anthology staples as 'And death shall have no dominion', 'Fern Hill' and 'Do not go gentle into that good night', as well as what is probably the best-loved of all radio features, Under Milk Wood. From the very first, his writing was notable for its musicality and sensitivity to the colours, timbres and textures of individual words, qualities which are marked in the impressively sonorous recordings he made for Caedmon Records towards the end of his tragically short life. From his earliest years, too, Thomas was alert to music as an art in its own right; his best friend at school was the leading Welsh composer Daniel Jones, a musical prodigy, who introduced him to experimental literature and music.

The Deaths and Entrances project began in 2021 when John Goodby suggested to the composer David Lancaster that he might like to consider setting a Thomas poem to mark the seventieth anniversary of the poet’s death, in 2023. Work was delayed by Covid, but it was given an new boost and an extra dimension when David and John mentioned it to David's fellow composer, Philip Grange. Philip was keen to be involved himself, and soon he and David had been joined by another three composers - Rhian Samuel, Hayley Jenkins and Sadie Harrison. By 2023 all five were producing settings and Chris O'Gorman (tenor) and David Pipe (piano) had been engaged as performers. The composers' choice of texts ranges widely, from obscure juvenilia to famous early lyrics, and from mature later poems to a song from Under Milk Wood, and draws on the full spectrum of Thomas's poetic output. The first performance of the suite of songs was at a recital of November 2023, as part of York’s prestigious Late Music concert series. Two of the composers then set a second poem, and finally Richard Allain - a longstanding fan of Dylan Thomas's work - joined the group, setting 'Elegy', the poem Thomas was working on at the time of his death.

Following a further well-received performance at Worcester College, Oxford, in May 2024, and a subsequent crowdfunder, the recording for this CD was made at the Cosmo Rodewald Hall, Manchester University, in August 2025.