Which of these recordings do you think is more accurate? or are there others that I should be looking to? (Not just of Cicero’s oration, but as indicative of classical pronunciation)
First:
http://ia600300.us.archive.org/26/items/OratioInCatilinamPrimaAlatius/oratio_in_catilinam_prima_01_vbr.mp3
Second:
http://www.rhapsodes.fll.vt.edu/audiofiles/cicero.mp3
Regard
WT
Utra impressio praestans simulandaque, ut opinor.
Both are excellent and worth copying, I’d say.
Of course, only an ancient Roman could tell us which of these is more accurate, and there aren’t many of them left. But to my somewhat hearing-impaired ears, the first clip seems to more accurately reflect the pronunciation of the spelling [vowel] + ns as a long nasalized vowel followed by /s/ in consilia, constrictam, consili, consul, whereas the second doesn’t seem to do this, pronouncing these words just as they’re spelled, i.e., with the cluster -ns-. See Allen, Vox Latina, p. 28.