Paul Derouda wrote:I'll share my first impressions, now that I've listened to the beginning (about the first 300 lines).
Of those that I've come across, this seems to be one of the better attempts at recording Ancient Greek, and worthy of attention. I think the greatest merit is that it really engages with metre and the format of the classical tragedy; I think I'm not the only one in these days who tends to ignore the metre when reading Greek poetry, because my generation doesn't much read poetry otherwise. It seems a really scholarly work in this respect (though how would I know...), something to study rather than for listening once.
So, as far as I'm any judge, the recording makes a very good job with the rhythm. With reconstructed pronunciation maybe less so, the actors have a strong English accent. The biggest problem is not making a clear distinction between aspirated and unaspirated stops, especially in emphatic words:
θεοὺς μὲν αἰθῶ τῶνδ᾽ ἀπαλλαγὴν φόνων
I'm setting the gods on fire, a release from these murders!
(actually what I hear is θεοὺς μὲν αἰθῶ θῶνδ᾽ ἀφαλλαγὴν φόνων, but that's not so funny
)
Ok, that was a bit mean, because I think the recording has great merits as well.
With the pitch accent (which is what usually interests me most) it seems to make a better job. This is really difficult for me to appreciate though, because I don't recognise pitch accent naturally and I'm not musical at all. I think the circumflex is respected pretty consistently. In many occasions I can't hear an acute, but I don't know whether it's because it's not there or just because
I can't hear it. Maybe it's just that they're not overdoing it.
Has anyone else remarks on the pronunciation, especially the pitch accent? I'd like to know if you've found clear mistakes, not to make more fun of the recording, but as an exercise.
