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Type of bind: Audio CD
Dewey Decimal Number: 792.102908
EAN num: 9789626342442
Format: Audiobook, Box set, Compilation, Unabridged
ISBN number: 9626342447
Label: Naxos Audiobooks
Manufacturer: Naxos Audiobooks
Number Of Discs: 3
Quantity: 3
Page Count: 144
Printing Date: 2002-02
Publishing house: Naxos Audiobooks
Release Date: January 15, 2002
Sale Popularity Level: 120090
Studio: Naxos Audiobooks
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
This performance of 'King Lear' features an all-star cast.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I love King Lear and I love Paul Scofield, who voices Lear in this production. I bet it was a dynamite version to see live. But this audio recording suffers from terrible sound mixing. Some people have used the phrase "voices dropping out" to describe the problem, but I'd say simply that they did too little post-production mixing. The volumes are wildly divergent. This is most audible when someone speaks an aside--if you turn the volume up enough to hear this line, the subsequent line spoken at regular volume will rattle your speakers (and eardrums). But it's a problem even in scenes with actors of different vocal styles--some people are way too loud and others very hard to hear. To give this complaint some context, I've never reviewed anything negatively on Amazon before. But this is a production problem--like getting a book printed on cheap paper--not just a matter of taste. They should have fixed this (and still could if they wanted to), and it really deserves a negative rating to warn people off of it.
Rated by buyers 
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The received text of King Lear, Shakespeare's greatest play for our times, comes as always in various versions and editions. There is the original Quarto version, and a later Folio version. Most modern editions of the play lean towards one or the other, or wisely combine the two. Particularly helpful is the old, faithful The Tragedy Of King Lear (The Yale Shakespeare) done a half century ago by Professor Tucker Brooke, I believe is the name, shortly before his death, which includes all lines from both Folio and Quarto, distinguishing what appears in one but not in the other by the clear use of parentheses or brackets. I find this much more useful than the squiggly band of ants and mites which normally indicate variant readings in the middle of the pages of the current respected critical editions, including the traditional King Lear (Arden Shakespeare).
Amazingly we receive Lear at all, considering its history and the fact that for two hundred years a false and unfortunate and unauthentic "happy" Hollywood ending was imposed upon its productions, as if MacBeth and MacDuff embrace at the end of the Scots tragedy. We are fortunate in our times to find the massive and meticulous scholarship which has gone into the integral restoration of Lear, combining the two versions and smoothing over disagreements. It is amazing in how much the two versions agree, and yet each has a good chunk of play which the other does not, such as the Quarto's mock trial of the fox daughters. Normally now these missing chunks are included with notation.
Not so here. The only shadow upon this otherwise excellent recording is that it presents the Folio alone, as indicated in the comprehensive brochure enclosed, and in the specific endorsement of the The Tragedy of King Lear (The New Cambridge Shakespeare) on the back cover. Thus we lose much in gaining the great Scofield.
And Scofield is truly great, the noted actor's actor, whom other great actors such as O'Toole and Harris would sneak out to watch in action, the actor best known here for A Man for All Seasons (Special Edition). Scofield presented Lear in the theatre for this same director while in his forties; here he is recorded about 2001 in his eighties, voice ever powerful, a finely tuned and a varied instrument, the most precise of the English tongue, here presented in all of its fullness.
The supporting players as well are excellent, though one may as always have quibbles. I find for instance the remarks by Cornwall after the taking of the second eye too casually delivered, especially as he stands mortally wounded. And my personal take on Cordelia has always been against the typical presentation: I see her as quite small in stature, even dwarfish, thus well beloved by Fool and father but less favored in society, but especially with some physical trouble in speech which prevents her from speaking freely in public, but again especially beloved by Fool and father. Rather is she always presented as most noble and regal and physically, verbally, wonderful.
We must also wonder at her being left behind by her fiance, who more wisely might have left things to fall as they must in Britain and return at a later time more easily. We think therefore of Joyce's tale of Eveline, and her urgency in loving her father more than any other, even husband. But these ideas wander from the direct technical consideration of this production.
This three disk set is as good as we can get, with the great Scofield in command. I might wish for a better and more foolish Fool, but then again this is Kenneth Branagh, and who after all could be better. I prefer the elderly Fool seen elsewhere, but that is perhaps another too personal reading.
If only this recording considered the Quarto as well!
Rated by buyers 
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Having purchased this recording to hear the voice of Toby Stephens as much as to enjoy this classic play, I found the experience totally satisfying in both regards. The other reviews have well covered many aspects of the performances of the main characters. I would like to focus on Toby since this is linked to amazon.com's ALL Toby All the Time site and might be useful to other fans. Toby plays Edmund (or Edmond per the liner notes), the bastard son of the Earl of Gloucester, an ally of King Lear. Honestly, Toby is brilliant in this. A perfect part to display all the rich tones in his voice and he make the most of it. He has a soliloquy early in the play plotting against his brother and bemoaning the fact that the accident of his birth leaves him with no inheritance. He has a big section at the end displaying his wonderful range, also. There's swordplay, calling out ( think of that voice that called "Jane, Jane"), whispering, mocking, pleading - lots for Toby lovers to appreciate. I am on my second time through and enjoying it even more. The liner notes are quite helpful to place everybody. (Beware - my copy came with several blank pages including the page that should have had Toby's picture and bio. Fortunately, Naxosaudiobooks has been very responsive and is mailing me a replacement.) This is no substitute for him in all his visual glory but it satisfies by reminding me what a magnificent talent he has to display when given words worthy of it.
Rated by buyers -
This series of Shakespeare's plays is read by artists who have wonderful skills, and you can understand the dialogue better than most stage productions. Frequently Shakespearean stage productions, for time constraints or other reasons typically abridge the complete text. These readings are complete, and can be followed word by word from the written plays. They are the best means to prepare to see a stage production, and can be used as a benchmark for judging performances. Often the directors of contemporary productions make other modifications beyond the text for modern audiences. If you want to hear how the classic version should sound, then this is it.
Rated by buyers -
Although the liner notes describing portions of Act 4 in the boxed set I received were a little amiss, it would be hard to see how the performance itself could be improved. Paul Scofield is absolutely extraordinary as Lear as is Alec McGowen as Glouster and Kenneth Branagh as the Fool. Five stars isn't enough! It's rare that a story like this, which can become quite complex if one isn't familiar with the action, can literally jump off the recording and present us with visual images all along the way. Every actor deserves the highest praise for his/her performance!
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