DANGEROUS LIAISONS

Les Liaisons Dangereuses has been made into a play and twice filmed within the last decade. None of these versions did much to explain what makes this epistolary novel of cynical seduction a masterpiece. This recording should help. The letters are read by a superb cast that makes manifest the societal and psychological intricacies between the lines of the text. The period music used for bridges reinforces the sense of time and place. The abridgment of the graceful, uncredited translation is particularly judicious. If there's a fault, it's that while the original evokes a compelling sexuality at the same time that it evokes revulsion, the audio actors aren't equally adept at such a delicate balance. Y.R. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: MAY 98]