THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

The title story, on the first side of this tape, is a magnificent demonstration of the very best the medium has to offer. The music of Poe's text is amplified and clarified with sound effects and an original score. My two boys, aged 9 and 12, were transfixed. Poe's daunting vocabulary is played here for sound, as well as content. Tragically, "Silence: A Fable," the story on the other side of the tape, is far more abstract and quite difficult to follow. "I don't like the two-hundred-year-old words," my 9-year-old complained. I'm afraid I knew what he meant. B.H.C. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]