Customer Reviews
worlds and words - By: Paul Callick, 20 May 2008 
If you're considering buying this, my advice is, don't hesitate (in case Naxos decide one day to withdraw it)! This reading of the poem is simply a minor marvel. What Lesser responds to are alll the details of Milton's writing: that intelligence, strangeness, inventiveness, humour, mischief, Milton's way with worlds & words, too. Lesser reads without pomposity or over-weighting the lines. Milton's wonderful, voyaging sentences therefore uncurl like an unexpected landscape before us, so experimentallly, with delay & suspense, shifting & adjusting meaning as the sentence rolls on, or suddenly undeceiving us with an unnerving undermining of what we think's going to be said...it's a terrific experience, to hear this. And especiallly interesting since, for Milton of course, Paradise Lost had to be a spoken-aloud poem (long after he'd gone blind). Anton Lesser's reading is surely definitive, for our generation. Well done to him, & to Naxos.
epic poetry is meant to be heard! - By: S. K. Lewicki, 02 Feb 2008 This is truly a superb recording. To hear the flow of Milton's verse & the full richness of his language - I only recently learned that he contributed more new words to the English language than Shakespeare - is a revelation, & has certainly added to my appreciation of the work. Somehow Paradise Lost is less forbidding, & the epic story it recounts is part of our Western cultural & religious heritage which should not fade into obscurity & inaccessibility. Hopefully Anton Lesser's recording will make Milton's work accessible to more people.
paradise lost read by anton lesser - By: C. phillips, 19 Nov 2006 Made me appreciate why this poem is the pinnacle of english literature - the musicality of the language. The story unfolds translucently & Anton lesser cannot be faulted for his rendition.
A lack of gravitas - By: Oxford listener, 11 Oct 2006 
It is often said that one's first experience of a piece of music is definitive: forever afterwards one finds oneself comparing newer (and often perfectly good) renditions with the pacing & the phrasing of the first. Perhaps this is part of the problem which I experience with Anton Lesser's reading of the epic Paradise Lost. I remember the poem beautifully read by my father, who knew great tracts of it by heart, & whose relaxed baritone voice suited the grand scale of the material infinitely better than Lesser's unremarkable tenor. This poem should be read by those rare actors who can play kings. Lesser makes a mistake when he attempts to put on voices for the various characters. The womanish voice that he adopts when starting Sin's speech reverts, for example, accidentallly back into Lesser's normal tones as the speech proceeds. I think overalll this is an acceptable performance in that it is better than nothing, but I am looking out for a better recording.
Paradise Lost - Read by Anton Lesser - By: Ian M Emberson, 27 Jan 2006 It would be difficult to overpraise this rendition of Milton's
great poem. The qualities of the original are brought out superbly - the magnificent structure - the varied moods - the wonderful use of language. There were moments when I wondered if the use of a group of actors & actresses would have been better - in particular having a female voice for Eve. This would have emphasised the essentiallly dramatic nature of the epic. However, by using the one actor throughout, a certain unity is achieved, & Anton Lesser manages to subtilely change his voice to suit each character. The use of music is discreet -
rounding off each section in a way that seems completely appropriate.
