HP audio versions

[Haggridd <jkusalavagemd@yahoo.com>]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Gary Sapp & Karen J.S. 
<KAREN-GARY at w...>" <KAREN-GARY at w...> wrote:
> I don't think anyone has discussed the audio versions for a while.  
> 
> Having just finished my first hearing of the Fry tapes, I was
> wondering if anyone else had listened to both versions and what 
their
> impressions/preferences are.

> Karen

I had posted a sreies of comparisons of the two versions about 
eighteen months ago on HPFGU.  They all have some variation of the 
title "Dale vs. Fry:  taste test", IIRC.

Personally, I found Dale to have a wider range of character voices.  
He "acted" his characters' dialogue.  Fry would attempt to do this 
from time to time, but since his range was so limited, almost every 
character ended up sounding like a well-educated middle class 
Englishman.  The one characterization in which Fry's reading  was 
clearly superior to Dale's was that of Hermione.  Fry had captured 
that breathless, bossy note that hermione had, especially early in PS.
Dale's Hermione is insipid and too dependent on Harry.

As for the other characterizations, I found Dale clearly superior, 
and I had none of the problems with the voices that many Fry 
supporters seem to have had.  Perhaps this was because I am an 
American, and not in tune with some of the fine distinctions of the 
various British dialects, and because I heard the Dale readings first.
I see no reason, however, why Fry gave Karkaroff a German accent.  He 
is clearly Slavic.

I think the clearest evidence of how I have reacted to the recordings 
is that I will buy the Bloomsbury edition of OoP, but buy the Dale 
recording only, if he narrates it.

Haggridd