AMG Review of Finnegans Wake

Steven McDonald
All Music Guide

A remarkable outing from Patrick Ball, who here places the accent firmly on his storyteller's talents as he reads excerpts from James Joyce's complex and controversial Finnegans Wake. The excerpts are framed and supported by Ball's Celtic harp playing, which provides a seductive transition. The reading is splendid, drawing out the poetic and musical elements of Joyce's text and providing the reader with new insights into ways of approaching the novel (which works best, it seems, when read aloud.) The accompanying booklet is a piece of work in itself. A breathtaking two-CD set.