Customer Reviews

When Love Speaks

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A fellow Rickman fan sent this as a gift and I was overwhelmed. I have always loved Shakespeare, but to hear the sonnets read by some of today's most accomplished actors is simply sublime. The passages are read with so much feeling and passion, it is easy to become hypnotized by their melodic voices. My 2 year old son also listens, enraptured, when I play this while doing household chores. Not a bad way to introduce him to Shakespeare.

Shakespeare at it's best! There is something wonderful to be said of Shakespeare's Sonnets. They inspire, breed desire and set you on fire. Love will make us do strange things and to hear the sonnets being read by the best of the best of the best (are there better than Sir Richard Attenborough, Alan Rickman, John Hurt, Fiona Shaw...shall I go on?) is like waking up to the most magnificent sunrise. The music (Annie Lennox, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Rufus Wainwright...)is so inspiring! It makes you want to fall in love!

This is one of the most stunning compilations I've ever heard. Sure to make a Shakespeare fan out of the most hardened skeptic. Alan Rickman is extremely compelling. John Hurt is brilliant. The Willow Song from Othello is sung, to perfection, by Barbara Bonney, and Bryan Ferry lends his voice to a beautiful rendition of "Shall I compare thee to a summers day".

I have to admit that I got this because of Alan Rickman. But the other tracks are mind boggling as well. Bryan Ferry's amazing! And so's the rest....

Absolutely worth the money shipping it to Singapore!

Beautiful music, beautiful words, read by the best actors in the world...it's enough to make a girl swoon!!! Alan Rickman's velvet voice alone is worth the price of this CD!!!

I wish Alan Rickman would engage in more spoken word recordings - his voice is incredible. As another reviewer wrote I, too, bought this CD for Rickman alone, but the cd is great from start to finish. Now, if Alan Rickman would only record something like Edgar Alan Poe's poems! Could you imagine THAT voice doing 'The Raven', or 'The Bells'. Haunting! Absolutely haunting. Please Mr. Rickman (bended kneee) read this and indulge your many fans!

BTW: For those of you who enjoy Alan Rickman, he has recorded 'Return of the Native' by Thomas Hardy -- it is super!

Sonnet 29 by Rufus Wainwright is an absolute work of art. I recommend this album highly. The beauty that will transcend you from listening to this song, is unparalleled by any other modern album.

To those of us that revel in the sound of poetry spoken at its best this collection of RADA artists reading Shakespeare's sonnets is pure joy. This collection is beautifully put together and the variety of sublime speaking voices brings each classic verse to life.If this were not enough the spoken voices are intermixed with musical versions performed by some of our most creative contemporary voices from the POP world such as Bryan Ferry, Annie Lennox and Rufus Wainright who bring an additional depth and nuance to their very individual interpretations that will make you want to go back again and again. Oh for more of th same.

O.k. I'll be honest: I got this CD because of Alan Rickman. However, in the short time I've had it, I've listened to the entire album, start to finish, probably a dozen times. Rickman is amazing with his recitation of Sonnet 130, which admittedly I've listened to more than any other, but Refus Wainwright also deserves mention for a beautiful musical rendition of Sonnet 29. Although I don't know who Henry Goodman is, his version of Sonnet 46 does such an excellent job of capturing the witty back and forth of the eye and heart at war. I was also pleased to see some names (and hear some voices) that I do recognize: Imogen Stubbs, Kenneth Branagh, John Hurt, Annie Lennox, Juliet Stevenson, and Ralph Fiennes--and that's just naming a few of the greats making an appearance on this CD. Finally, if you don't like any of the actors/musicians I've mentioned, you should buy this album just for the sonnets themselves. It's a must-have for any true Shakespeare fan.

I found that, while the album did lag a bit towards the end, most of the readings were both lovely and passionate. A good tribute to Shakespeare's sonnets.

However, I couldn't help but find that the vast majority of the songs were simply not that well done. The only one's that stood out to me as exceptional were John Potter's and Bryan Ferry's pieces, which were much better performed than any of the others. The artists on the other songs simply seemed to be tripping all over themselves, and the delicate pace and rhythm of the sonnets were lost. Even Rufus Wainwright, whom everyone else seems to love on this album, didn't really impress me with his creativity. I would have much preferred if Michael Kamen had simply done *all* the music as short instrumental pieces.

However, I wouldn't hesitate for an instant to buy this album again. The music, while a little bit of a distraction, is easily pushed aside for the beauty of the spoken sonnets.