Macbeth

A most worthwhile rendition of Macbeth. The voices are expressive and clear, without milking the emotions. The narrative flows well. The technical quality is good, with the very occasional exception of some bit players, where the voices are muted, for example that of the third witch. All in all, a rollicking tale of gore and guts to gladden the hearts of Quentin Taratino fans.

The dynamics of the sound in this recording are dismal. The performance of Lady MacBeth is superb! The performance of MacBeth himself is extremely uneven, to say it as politely as possible.

You can bearly hear one of the witches, and they don't sound like witches enough to suit me. The preference of the witches' dramatization may be nit-picky, but the complaint about not being able to hear one of them is serious. And that's kind of a problem for me, since they're one of my favorite parts of the story.

If this title becomes available in the enhanced format, it will probably dispel the concerns many have expressed about the sound quality. I've listened to this on the original CDs and as an Audible format 4 download, and the difference in clarity is an eye-opener. The third witch, as several people have commented, is inaudible in the download; it has something to do with the conversion of a complex stereo design to mono. In stereo, all witches are clearly audible and the background noises and music are clearly separated from the voices.

It's a particular shame with this title, because Fiona Shaw's vision of Macbeth (she directed it, as well as playing Lady Macbeth) is haunting, almost hallucinatory. It is by far one of the most ambitious and brilliantly-realized audiobooks of a Shakespeare play available. If it does become available as an enhanced-format download, I would urge anyone who tried it before, and rejected it, to give it another try.

I was looking forward to a good rendition of Macbeth to listen to in my car, but this one leaves you confused at best. Acts and scenes are not announced, so you don't really know what is going on; difficult to figure out which character is which - if you pile on the Shakespearean era English and occasional poor sonics, it makes for a dissatisfying experience.

Save your money.

Too many bells and whistles. The quality of ambience should not be so strained. The relentless thematic use of water noise - dripping, decanting, gurgling, splashing, washing, raining - threatened to drown the very strut and fret of this finest of plays.

U G L Y YOU AIN'T GOT NO ALIBI YOU UGLY! On a serious note it was utter sh*te.

ending

nothing, nothing at all. no pictures

pictures inclueded

doin' a poo.

I love the the interpretation of Fiona Shaw. She's a superb Lady Macbeth.
Also the cast is very attractive.

The classic tale is dissapointing only in the area of sound quality. Of the witches, the first scene and later, you can only hear one of them well, the second ok, and the third not at all. Other Sound quality issues are also annoying.

I chose this version because I thought it would be just a reading no a performance since it was not marked that way. One of the witches was completely obscured by what sounded like they recorded it in a parking garage. background noises are distracting more so then helpfully in an audio presentation.