Showing results by narrator "David Timson" in All Categories

Out of the dust-heaps and dirty streets of mid-Victorian London Dickens creates a classic murder-mystery tale. A dead man is fished out of the Thames by a scavenger and his daughter. Who is he, and how did he get there? His death affects members of all levels of a society permeated by greed.

Travelling across the daemon world of Eidolon in search of the stolen Blade Encarmine, Blood Angels Captain Leonatos and his battle-brothers encounter survivors from the 409th Kadmeian Janissaries regiment of the Imperial Guard.

Tosca is Puccini at the peak of his theatrical power. The story of the jealous, impassioned opera singer Floria Tosca and her doomed love for the painter Mario Cavaradossi is played out against backgrounds both historically and geographically overwhelming. It is set in three great and historical locations of Rome during the Napoleonic era. Spectacle, sensuality, and cruelty battle for our attention in one of the most truly "action-packed" works of theatre. Enticing us with just a couple of the "great tunes" from this deeply affecting opera, David Timson then begins setting the biographical and operatic scene.

La Bohème is one of the three operas - the others are Carmen and Aida - believed to be the most popular ever written. In the case of La Bohème the reason is that it virtually defines the term "romantic". The poignant story of Mimì and Rodolfo is told in music of such tender beauty, allied, as always, to Puccini’s intuition of what works in the theatre. The result is an opera that readily appeals to our emotions and senses.

On a world besieged by the forces of Chaos, the Emperor's Children and the World Eaters are forced into an uneasy alliance when the bodies of the fallen start to go missing....

A Swedish crime writer as thrilling as Mankell, a detective as compelling as Wallander . . . Van Veeteren faces a chilling case in Håkan Nesser's Hour of the Wolf, the seventh book to feature Chief Inspector Van Veeteren. In the dead of night, in the pouring rain, a drunk driver smashes his car...

Two 19th century stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working-class Alfred Borden, engage in a bitter and deadly feud; the effects are still being felt by their respective families a hundred years later.

Further adventures by the master of observation and deduction, as faithfully recounted by his companion and greatest admirer, Dr Watson. The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax and The Adventure of the Dying Detective are among the stories. David Timson's award-winning performances continue with this series.

These six cases are among the last undertaken by Sherlock Holmes before he retired to the Sussex downs. However, the problems facing the sleuth are as diverse and challenging as ever. What with seeking the whereabouts of the stolen Mazarin Diamond, discovering the importance of being called Garrideb, encountering a mysterious murder on Thor Bridge, searching for eternal youth and the threat of a vampire in Sussex, there is no sign of Holmes' deductive powers slowing down.

Carmen is among the most popular operas for all the obvious reasons: great characters, a gripping story, and fabulous music. But what sets it on a pinnacle is an amazing combination of three factors: a sizzling Gipsy heroine (one of the most psychologically complex and compelling characters in all theatre), great atmosphere (Spain, hot sun, the bull-ring), and the prodigality of melodic invention - one great tune after another, at least a dozen of which are the staples of Madison Avenue and the animated cartoon.

Dombey and Son is vintage Dickens and explores the classic themes of betrayal, cruelty and deceit. The novel follows the fortunes of Dombey, a businessman par excellence, who craves a son to inherit his enterprises. His family, and especially his daughter, the sweet and good-natured Florence, bear the brunt of his frustrations.

The life of Franz Liszt was as daring and spectacular as his music. Famed throughout Europe as the greatest pianist of the nineteenth century, he was one of the most original and prophetic composers who ever lived. Beautiful in youth, glowering in age, his high-profile love affairs were the talk of the town wherever he went and his generosity to young musicians was legendary. In this account of his epic life, actors’ readings combine with plentiful musical excerpts to paint a living portrait of a highly complex man.

In 1969, John Julius Norwich, the legendary popular historian, gathered together the favourite things he'd come across in the last 365 days into one short charming pamphlet. Initially just a treat for his friends, it rapidly turned into a huge word-of-mouth success. And soon the arrival of John Julius Norwich's latest 'Christmas Cracker' became as essential a part of the English Christmas experience as holly and mistletoe. Norwich had a brilliant eye for a story and telling detail, and his Crackers are full of jokes, warmth and wit. 

Although now beloved and revered by millions as the greatest composer who ever lived, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was best known in his lifetime as an organist, and was eclipsed in fame as a composer by two of his twenty children. For the last twenty-seven years of his life he was a schoolteacher and choir director whose duties extended to meal supervision and dormitory inspection. Yet throughout his career he composed a vast body of music which is amongst the most joyful, dancing and enrapturing ever written.

Once again Arthur Conan Doyle presents a series of cases which baffle the police, but are no match for Sherlock Holmes and his trusty companion, Dr. Watson.

David Timson talks about the relationship between Samuel Johnson and James Boswell - how they met, their unlikely friendship, and extensive conversations - and the composition of Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson, one of the greatest biographies in the history of world literature.

Dickens’ renowned skill for keen social observation and, more specifically, his incredibly detailed knowledge of London and its theatres, prisons and inns is perfectly released in Sketches by Boz. Many of the themes he goes on to explore in his great novels are foreshadowed in this early collection of short accounts that center on London and its inhabitants.

Madama Butterfly runs the gamut of operatic emotions. The title heroine has a fragility wonderfully expressed in her entry music, deep sexual instincts as shown in the love duet, and immense tragic stature in her last hours. The fate of Madama Butterfly - married to an American sailor and then abandoned - engages our emotions to a degree equaled by few other opera heroines. The oriental setting and the exquisite orchestral and choral writings are treasured bonuses.

The Sherlock Holmes series read in unabridged form, by David Timson for Naxos AudioBooks, is widely regarded as one of the finest. Here, Timson brings his remarkable performance skills to one of Doyle’s full-length novels. Holmes and his faithful Dr Watson are summoned to a country house by a coded message. They arrive too late to save a life and then pursue the trail which leads to the unmasking of the murderer.

The intrepid band of warriors, led by Captain James Keane, have been given their toughest job yet by Wellington. Both the British and French armies have retreated from the old university city of Coimbra, leaving it in ruins, the inhabitants destitute and the houses full of wounded from all sides.