Ian McEwan paints scenes with words with such precision that, heard aloud, it is almost as if you are watching a film; he is also a master of suspense.
HarperCollins is to be congratulated on acknowledging the issuing of new recordings of several of his novels, and carefully selecting appropriate readers. The Child In Time (CDs, £15.99, offer £14.39), written in 1987 and now read with tense empathy by Anton Lesser, is especially gripping. Its theme is childhood, and it opens with the loss of a child: the three-year-old daughter of Stephen Lewis, a children’s author, vanishes one day in a supermarket. Stephen’s struggle to come to terms with the loss and its effect on his marriage takes place against a larger canvas — an examination of the nature of childhood, the degeneracy of adulthood — and parallels are drawn with the parent-child nature of the political world of Stephen and the brilliant but petulantly childish figure of Charles Darke. Among the other McEwan titles newly issued on CD are The Innocent (£15.99, offer £14.39) and Black Dogs (£13.99, offer £12.59).
The British Library has produced another enthralling collection of archive highlights, this time a collection of 20 complete scenes from live Royal Shakespeare Company productions. The Essential Shakespeare Live (CDs, £15.95, offer £14.35) is not an excursion into crackling antiquity; the earliest recording is Peter Hall’s 1959 production of Coriolanus, starring Laurence Olivier, and all the scenes come over with piercing clarity, audience reaction and all.
To listen to this CD straight through would be akin to scoffing an entire box of Belgian chocolates at once; instead, begin by studying the excellent booklet included. It gives full details of the characters and it prints every word of each scene. Then chose between Paul Scofield as a chilling Lear, Donald Sinden as an hilariously self-satisfied Malvolio, Peggy Ashcroft as a cruel and feline Margaret of Anjou, Derek Jacobi as Prospero, Judi Dench as Countess Roussillon in All’s Well That Ends Well and Robert Stephens as Falstaff playing against Michael Maloney as Hal. And much, much more.
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