I was going to write to thank you for the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes radio show uploads...but this? tops the cake with lovely rich chocolate frosting! I can't get enough of Ralph Richardson...and Proust? That's glory for you! Thank you!
I wish I had known about this extraordinary recording when I wrote about recorded books for the New Yorker a few years ago ("The Pleasures of Being Read To," May 14, 2012). This is the best reading-aloud of anything I've ever heard. That it happens to be Proust, with those long sinuous complex sentences, makes the performance all the more miraculous. Thanks for uploading this; it's a true treasure.
+JohnColapinto Incidentally, this recording may well deserve a particular article about itself, doesn't it )) Sorry for my taking this liberty, just kidding, never mind )
Well, actually, the source is rather a fishy one. Truth be told, I stumbled upon this recording on the internet, on one of file sharing websites if I remember it right, and I just couldn't resist the temptation. It was too good not to pass along. So here it is. All the details about Caedmon I found out later on. Initially it was a LP. By the way, the vinyl is still available on Amazon and in a couple of other places. And I suppose, yes, it must be the full recording.
To have had this read by one of my favourite actors brought it so alive, so fresh, so true as if one were present, passive , mute but understanding of the unfolding of all loves and their immutable laws.
such beautiful movies made on literature same is with ;obscure object of desire'.. it is so amusing funny yet so absorbing i mean when ones' disposition is of that nature watching anything less, sleazy tucci, irritates annoys s jangles the sensibilities...
Sir Ralph's reading is hurried, comical and theatrical (delicious, but more suitable for Dickens), drowing attention to himself, tending to either shout or swollow the last syllables. Also the sound volume is very low.
Yes . I agree . Only an actor of considerable vocal abilities could be entrusted with the task of reading Proust. And Dear Sir Ralph was possessed of such abilities . Unfortunately he was allowed to indulge his Thespian approach to the text by a director / producer who was perhaps overawed by his reputation .....or his knighthood.? Whichever.......his overly mannered delivery jars dreadfully and rapidly becomes irritating.
Hmm... I am only just beginning to know classic French writers. This guy puts no humanity into it. Not getting a very good impression. Unfortunately most of them sound supercilious like this.
I have sat through this, words that spilled from page to page, I really do not get why this is called genius. Like nothing agents the man that was giving the story of his life on his death bead for fourteen years. Yet calling this a masterpiece, is hard for me to accept, there is nothing here that would hold you to want to keep reading this 1.3 million word, run-on ranting- incoherent- babbling of mindless chatter.
I have just been listening to someone on yt giving his thoughts on how one should approach Prouse. Apparently not everyone gets him straight off so I have been forwarned. That was Benjamin McEvoy.
