MABINOGION

Narrator Matt Addis brings care, talent, and skill to these stories from twelfth- and thirteenth-century Wales, but he could have exercised more restraint. He takes his cue from the stories themselves--fantastic, fanciful, somewhere between myth, legend, and fairy tale--and from the archaic tone of the mid-nineteenth-century translation by Charlotte Guest. Addis's phrases, imbued with a "once upon a time" feel, have a singsong lilt. While generally appropriate, this manner quickly cloys. There are ample opportunities to use a plainer tone, providing more variety, but Addis doesn't take them. Still, he is expressive and sensitive to the text while providing a thoughtful diversity of voices. Listeners with patience and sympathy for this type of literature should find this, perhaps in short segments, a satisfying performance. W.M. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2019]