Great Historical Shakespeare Recordings [Audiobook, Classical] [Audio CD]

Shakespeare (Author), Irving (Author), Barrymore (Author), Laughton (Author)

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Naxos Audio Books
• ASIN: B00004W55A
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,703,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must for Shakespeare scholars and fanatics, September 29, 2002

By 

albertatamazon (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Great Historical Shakespeare Recordings (Audio CD)

This 2-CD set is made up of historical recordings of Shakespeare and other items of classical theatre. It takes up where the enormous Shakespeare CD album "Be Thou Now Persuaded" left off, by going even further back in time and presenting us with some ancient Shakespeare recordings (some from the days of wax cylinders!), ranging in time from the very early 1900's up until 1948. The recordings provide enormously valuable demonstrations of the evolution of Shakespearean acting style, ranging from the completely outdated, ultra declamatory readings of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree to the more natural, "conversational" style of Laurence Olivier in an excerpt from the soundtrack of his 1948 "Hamlet". Those who now find Sir Laurence's style old-fashioned in comparison to Kenneth Branagh's modern approach may be surprised to learn that Olivier in his day was considered an upstart, a rather inelegant speaker of verse in comparison to the more traditional, "songlike" style of recitation.

But they will understand when they hear some of these older versions of Shakespeare. Some selections are recited in such an exaggerated, stilted style that they may provoke outright laughter. But then, we get an occasional surprise, such as the great 19th century actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson near the end of his career in the 1930's, giving us a speech from "Hamlet" in a style that sounds as modern as Branagh's.

However, be warned when listening to this album, a very few of the tracks are close to indecipherable because they were recorded on cylinder. This is also true of the second CD in this collection, which is made up not of Shakespeare excerpts but from selections from other pieces of theatre and literature---the most tragically disappointing of which is French actor Coquelin's recitation (in French)of a scene from "Cyrano de Bergerac" , rendered nearly inaudible because of its age. Coquelin was the actor that Edmond Rostand actually wrote "Cyrano" for, and he originated the role in 1897, so it is truly an awesomely rare experience to have his voice preserved on CD. But, unfortuantely, the effort does not pay off. However, there are compensations, such as Feodor Chaliapin reciting a poem in Russian, Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence in a scene from one of their stage appearances in a Coward play, and John Gielgud and Edith Evans in the famous handbag scene from "The Importance of Being Earnest".

This set of recordings is a collection that no serious theatre lover can hope to pass up.