DICKINSON & WHITMAN EBB & FLOW

Packaging these poets together is a wise move, which allows us to hear the distinct passion and vigor of these influential American masters. Wickwire and Scourby do a wonderful job reading the poems--39 by Dickinson, 14 by Whitman. One can hear the music of the words as the poems come alive. This makes it hard to understand why the producers mar the Dickinson tape with solo piano to set a mood of "reflective contemplation." Nonsense. At first, the music is distracting. Before long it's downright annoying, being not much more than noodling between Wickwire's announcement of the title of the poem and her reading of it. P.B.J. ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB 95]