SOUNDWALK: WILLIAMSBURG Women

[Editor's Note: The following is a combined review with SOUNDWALK WILLIAMSBURG: MEN.]--Soundwalk recordings are for youthful tourists. You go to the stipulated starting point, don your earphones, push the ON button, and while you walk according to the directions you hear, you get an earful of lore about the location you're visiting, complete with stereo sound effects and music. Here we have tours of the Chassidim of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The orthodox and mystical world of Chassidic Jewry has two strictly observed cultures, one for men, one for women. So Soundwalk gives you separate tours of both. Your male guide is amiable, informal, and well-informed Joseph Piekarski. The women get Pearl Gluck, whose informality seems forced and glib--perhaps because she tries to sound delighted by traditions that, as she presents them at any rate, seem harsh and oppressive. Y.R. 2007 Audies Award Winner © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: JUN/ JUL 07]