Henry Goodman reads Psalm 22 in Robert Alter’s version

HT: Ros Clarke. As Phil Sumpter points out, Henry Goodman’s reading of Psalm 22 in Robert Alter’s version is magnificent. The readings of Psalms 23 (KJV and Alter), 150 (Alter), 1 (Alter), 19 (KJV), 104 (Alter), 13 (KLV and Alter), 65 (Alter) and 137 (KJV and Alter), by Goodman and Kenneth Cranham, are also excellent. As Ros points out, the concluding readings of Psalm 137 are especially moving.

Go here to hear the readings while there’s still time (5 days left to listen). The “power and rhythm” of the Psalms come alive.

What do these readings prove? That, in the hands of an expert reader, the contorted syntax and Hebrew calques of KJV and Alter’s translation, each in their own way, sing. Even more, they communicate. The “concrete ferocity” of the source language, to use a nice turn of phrase of Roger McGough, the presenter of BBC Radio 4's Poetry Please, shines through.

I only wish that Goodman and Cranham would read more Psalms, and more passages from the Bible, for the benefit of all. Either might do an excellent job with Job – which Robert Alter is in the process of translating. But I would wish that Goodman and Cranham read the Bible, not just according to Alter and KJV, but according to David Curzon, James Kugel, and others still.   

I enjoyed the broadcast thoroughly, though the sound quality on my RealPlayer was a bit tinny.

Comments

[Ros]

Glad you enjoyed it. I think the reader was Kenneth Cranham, not Kenneth Branagh, though I am sure he would have done a fine job too.

[JohnFH]

Thanks, Ros. I'll fix that. As you can see, my knowledge of British actors and what not is pretty shabby.