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Faust

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Faust

By: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Narrated by: Auriol Smith, Gunnar Cauthery, Stephen Critchlow, Hugh Dickson, Anne-Marie Piazza, Sean Barrett
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About this listen

Faust is one of the pillars of Western literature. This classic drama presents the story of the scholar Faust, tempted into a contract with the Devil in return for a life of sensuality and power. Enjoyment rules, until Faust’s emotions are stirred by a meeting with Gretchen, and the tragic outcome brings Part 1 to an end. Part 2, written much later in Goethe’s life, places his eponymous hero in a variety of unexpected circumstances, causing him to reflect on humanity and its attitudes to life and death.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2011 Naxos Audiobooks Classics Scary

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Critic reviews

Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award

"If it’s been a while since you tackled Goethe’s Faust - like, forever - don’t wait a moment longer. John R. Williams’s sparkling English translation is delightful, full of wit and delicious rhymes, and would be reason enough to fling yourself at it, but this full-cast production more than doubles the pleasure.... The performances are marvelous, and the sound effects clever and often gorgeous (the choir!).... What a great theatrical experience." (AudioFile)

“Listen straight through and you get a vivid experience of the Faust drama in ways you would not get in any other form. The English translation is mellifluous and not stilted, and the recitation is terrific. Anyone who has appreciated the various settings of Faust by Gounod, Berlioz, Schumann, etc., will revel in the full drama enacted in the spirit Goethe intended.... Highly recommended.” (Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review)

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I understanding what they were going for with trying to add sound effects, music, choirs, and dramatized voice acting. I appreciate the effort. But what I look for in an audiobook is simple narration, without the added frills. I was really disappointed by all of these additions because of how distracting it all is with following the story. Sadly, I could not enjoy it.

The performance is very distracting

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I really enjoyed this version. The acting and sound effects were great. I would definitely recommend it.

Brilliant

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highly recommend this audio story. the narrative was incredibly captivating and I continued to listen on for hours.

incredible

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Absolutely loved this. The dramatisation, sound effects and characters really brought the story to life. Even bits of music weaved in there. Thoroughly recommend.

Really great dramatisation

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This is a super narration of a classic work. Thoroughly enjoyed the performance which was brought to life through the use of various voices. Excellent.

Excellent

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Like the story and the ideas but the peformance made it hard to follow and frankly kind of tedious. Would definitely have preferred something closer to the original

Performance ruined it

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I Think this goes better as a drama than a book. It makes the story etc. flow making it easier to follow.

A modern classic

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I absolutely love the theatrical flair of this adaptation! The modern sound effects are out of place for a 17th century novel but I think that makes them hilarious! They used a modern translation which makes the prose easy to understand. However, beware that this version is abridged. I think the production team has made a good job of keeping the narrative cohesive. Especially considering that an unabridged version would be ~10h long and this is quiet precisely 4h. All in all I really liked it despite it being a bit hard to follow at times.

Phenomenal adaptation but beware it is abridged

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amazing production and a great story. Just amazes me that when I listen to classics it just shows you how little has changed with people's behaviour over time.

they're called classics for a reason

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I understand a 17th century piece is not going to be an easy to digest affair, but for the audiobook format especially, it would have been most prudent and quite rather useful to have a small bit of narration at the start /end of each chapter to guide the listener through the plot. Without this, it got confusing very quickly and my mind wandered off to other thoughts. I'm still entirely uncertain just what this is about, what it's trying to explain, and what I'm supposed to take away from it.

Struggled to make heads or tails of this

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