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Paradise Lost (Naxos Complete Classics)

Author: John Milton
Creator: Anton Lesser
Publisher: Naxos AudioBooks
Category: Book

List Price: ~~Ł31.50~~
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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

5 reviews
Sales Rank: 69788

Format: Audiobook
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 9
Discs: 9
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 5.1 x 2.1

ISBN: 9626343508
Dewey Decimal Number: 821.4
EAN: 9789626343500
ASIN: 9626343508

Publication Date: November 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book, in stock and dispatched from the UK. Freepost returns.

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Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

worlds and words May 20, 2008
If you're considering buying this, my advice is, don't hesitate (in case Naxos decide one day to withdraw it)! This reading of the poem is simply a minor marvel. What Lesser responds to are all the details of Milton's writing: that intelligence, strangeness, inventiveness, humour, mischief, Milton's way with worlds and words, too. Lesser reads without pomposity or over-weighting the lines. Milton's wonderful, voyaging sentences therefore uncurl like an unexpected landscape before us, so experimentally, with delay and suspense, shifting and adjusting meaning as the sentence rolls on, or suddenly undeceiving us with an unnerving undermining of what we think's going to be said...it's a terrific experience, to hear this. And especially interesting since, for Milton of course, Paradise Lost had to be a spoken-aloud poem (long after he'd gone blind). Anton Lesser's reading is surely definitive, for our generation. Well done to him, and to Naxos.

5 out of 5 stars

epic poetry is meant to be heard! February 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

This is truly a superb recording. To hear the flow of Milton's verse and the full richness of his language - I only recently learned that he contributed more new words to the English language than Shakespeare - is a revelation, and has certainly added to my appreciation of the work. Somehow Paradise Lost is less forbidding, and the epic story it recounts is part of our Western cultural and religious heritage which should not fade into obscurity and inaccessibility. Hopefully Anton Lesser's recording will make Milton's work accessible to more people.

5 out of 5 stars

paradise lost read by anton lesser November 19, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Made me appreciate why this poem is the pinnacle of english literature - the musicality of the language. The story unfolds translucently and Anton lesser cannot be faulted for his rendition.

3 out of 5 stars

A lack of gravitas October 11, 2006
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

It is often said that one's first experience of a piece of music is definitive: forever afterwards one finds oneself comparing newer (and often perfectly good) renditions with the pacing and the phrasing of the first. Perhaps this is part of the problem which I experience with Anton Lesser's reading of the epic Paradise Lost. I remember the poem beautifully read by my father, who knew great tracts of it by heart, and whose relaxed baritone voice suited the grand scale of the material infinitely better than Lesser's unremarkable tenor. This poem should be read by those rare actors who can play kings. Lesser makes a mistake when he attempts to put on voices for the various characters. The womanish voice that he adopts when starting Sin's speech reverts, for example, accidentally back into Lesser's normal tones as the speech proceeds. I think overall this is an acceptable performance in that it is better than nothing, but I am looking out for a better recording.

5 out of 5 stars

Paradise Lost - Read by Anton Lesser January 27, 2006
17 out of 18 found this review helpful

It would be difficult to overpraise this rendition of Milton's
great poem. The qualities of the original are brought out superbly - the magnificent structure - the varied moods - the wonderful use of language. There were moments when I wondered if the use of a group of actors and actresses would have been better - in particular having a female voice for Eve. This would have emphasised the essentially dramatic nature of the epic. However, by using the one actor throughout, a certain unity is achieved, and Anton Lesser manages to subtilely change his voice to suit each character. The use of music is discreet -
rounding off each section in a way that seems completely appropriate.