ORFEO

Narrator Christopher Hurt does a creditable job with this difficult work. Powers's erudite novel features the life of an avant-garde composer who, in a mysterious pursuit late in his life, hacks the genetic code of a common bacterium. Throughout, our hero stumbles around as a clueless observer writing music no one ever hears in a seeming parody of the entire avant-garde movement. Hurt applies a robot-like voice for the Serratia bacterium that is the alter-ego of the piece. While his voicings for other characters are less successful, his pacing and timing are good, given the rambling nature of the narrative and the continual abrupt flashbacks. M.C. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2014]