Audio readings of the diary

Ed emailed me and wanted to ask everyone about their experiences of audio recordings of the diary. As this is currently the only place to discuss this kind of thing, it’s over to Ed:

Comments

• N Kate on Mon 19 May 2003, 06:39pm

  I’ve never heard Maloney’s reading (come to that I’ve never heard of Michel Maloney) but I have heard all six of the Branagh cassettes.

  As you would expect of an actor of Branagh’s calibre, the readings are very well done, very professional.

  Is it the authentic voice of Sam, though? Personally, I have my doubts. Other listeners may disagree.

• N Ed LeZotte on Mon 19 May 2003, 09:40pm

  Sorry — never meant to suggest Branagh was the “authentic” voice of Sam, just that in comparision to Maloney (who has a number of dramatic credits according to the liner notes) he comes across as, well, alive.

• N The Bishop on Tue 20 May 2003, 01:46am

  You can listen to a one-minute clip of Maloney reading here (only the introduction, not the text of the diary itself).

  http://www.naxos-audiobooks.com/pages/428812.htm

  Based on this, I think he’s a very good choice. This is exactly how I imagine Pepys sounding.

  I haven’t heard Branaugh read Pepys, but Branaugh is the most horrible over-actor. His Shakespearean performances are disasters.

• N Emilio on Tue 20 May 2003, 11:37pm

  I was just listening to the Branagh recording for the first time, and found it quite fun. Whatever anyone thinks of his style of acting in general, he’s certainly not afraid to throw himself into the reading, and that gusto helped bring the events to life for me.
  I thought he did come on a bit strong in the bawdy passages (sometimes sounding dangerously close to Pepe LePew), but even in those spots he was in sync with the action - I always knew what was going on the moment his tone changed.
  

• N Ed LeZotte on Thu 22 May 2003, 07:13pm

  Pepe LePew? Excellent! And pretty accurate when one stops to think about it.

• N Liz on Mon 30 Jun 2003, 06:55am

  Listening to Kenneth Branagh’s recording right now and LOVE IT!!
  He’s got a wonderful voice and it’s very well done!!!

  Cheers!

• N Glyn on Thu 24 Jul 2003, 08:34pm

  For Brits, from last weekend’s Observer newspaper:

  “SELECTIONS FROM THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS (4 HOURS, NAXOS,

• N Glyn on Thu 6 Nov 2003, 11:48pm

  The (Fictional!) Diary of Elizabeth Pepys is being broadcast on BBC Radio next week in five 15-minute segments from Monday 10 November to Friday 14 November.

  Some details here:

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/whatson/prog_parse.cgi?FILENAME=20031110/20031110_1145_18112_47021_15&tmp=bbc7/whatson/programme.tmpl

  It will be on twice daily, so you should be able to listen to it wherever in the world you are.

  And a lot of BBC radio dramas are saved to be listened for a further seven days. If that’s true in this case, people could wait and listen to them all in one go.