The Prince of Wales records Burns' poems at Dumfries House
Posted 23rd January 2009 11:25am by Alison Duguid
The Prince of Wales has recorded two of his favourite Burns works, A Red Red Rose and My Heart’s in the Highlands, as part of a Robert Burns audio archive project.
The three-year BBC Scotland project, which will see all 600-plus works of Burns read by a host of well-known figures, launches officially on Sunday 25th January to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's bard.
The Prince, who is known as The Duke of Rothesay in Scotland, recorded My Heart’s in the Highlands and A Red Red Rose during a visit this week to Dumfries House, the Ayrshire stately home he led a consortium to save for the nation in June 2007 in what was described as “the save of the century”.
The Duke of Rothesay's contribution is one of the first to be made available along with ones from First Minister Alex Salmond, who read A Man’s A Man for A’ That , and a host of stars from the world of entertainment including Alan Cumming (Rantin Rovin Robin, Mauchline Wedding), John Gordon Sinclair (Address to a Haggis, A Lass wi a Tocher), Eileen McCallum (Tam Sampson’s Dead), Robert Carlyle (O Leave Novels) and Robbie Coltrane (John Anderson, My Jo).
The project, which was announced in the autumn by BBC Scotland’s Head of Radio Jeff Zycinski, will allow followers of Burns, particularly schoolchildren and students, to savour the rich legacy of his poetry for many years to come for the first time.
“Burns still resonates hugely more than two centuries after he penned over 600 poems and songs, both here in Scotland and beyond - and this project will ensure that his works are available to everyone for years to come,” said Mr Zycinski.
A special radio programme, The Complete Burns, will showcase the online archive on Sunday, January 25 at 10.30am on Radio Scotland.
Click here to visit the BBC Listen Again page for the Today programme, where you can listen to The Prince’s rendition of My Heart’s in the Highlands broadcast at 08.23am.
