VENUS AND ADONIS & THE RAPE OF LUCRECE

What a difference there is between listening to these two works! In VENUS AND ADONIS, David Burke's narration smoothly bridges dramatized sections. However, Clare Corbett's Venus and Benjamin Soames's Adonis are difficult to follow despite the rolling majesty of their deliveries. Both narrators know how to deliver verse, but their emotional tone is oratorical, inflated throughout, so few emotional distinctions are communicated. By contrast, David Burke's narrative presence in THE RAPE OF LUCRECE is just as smooth, and Eve Best's Lucrece solidly brings the character's emotional torture to life. The verse is just as lofty, and the emotional range of the cast is much greater. As a result, the entire poem is closer to a Shakespearean drama, and the whole, much more pleasing. G.T.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 07]