Artist description Poetry readings to classic guitar accompaniment

Music Style William Shakespeare sonnets read to guitar etudes by Fernando Sor

Musical Influences Fernando Sor

Similar Artists A unique product

Artist History Walter Borden, a former school teacher, is an experienced actor whose talent displays both depth and versatility; particularly within the realm of the Classics. These qualities, along with a deeply expressive and distinctive voice, keep him busy in film, theatre and television. He is also a gifted writer of original poetry. A mainstay at Neptune Theatre in Halifax for many years, Walter has performed in "Romeo and Juliet", "The Merchant of Venice" and has played the lead role in "Hamlet". He has appeared as the lead in Hosanna and was featured in the hit "The Gospel At Colonus". Most recently he was in "The Member of the Wedding" and "Travels With My Aunt". He also plays "The Wuzard" in Salter Street's T.V series, "Lexx. - The Dark Zone". He also narrated "The Easter Suite", a gospel cantata with Symphony Nova Scotia and The Nova Scotia Mass Choir.Paul Martell, a guitarist who is equally at ease with the classical idiom as he is with his own contemporary style of playing. Originally from Halifax, he received his Masters degree in musicology at the University of Calgary and a Bachelors degree in music at Mount Allison University. Briefly, he taught music theory in France. As well as working full-time in retail music, Paul also teaches a course on Music History at Dalhousie University. He makes his recording debut playing classic guitar on "Walter Borden reads sonnets by William Shakespeare to the music of Fernando Sor played by Paul Martell". He also performs three of his own inventive contemporary compositions on SVP's new release, "Artists In Residence - Separate but Together".

Group Members Walter Borden: Reader Paul Martell: Guitarist

Instruments voice and guitar

Albums "Walter Borden reads sonnets by William Shakespeare to the music of Fernando Sor performed by Paul Martell"

Press Reviews REVIEWS: Review #1:Halifax-based actor Walter Borden's first CD release is a delightful spoken-word album that matches [30 of] Shakespeare's sonnets with 14 of Fernando Sor's studies for the nylon-string guitar. Planned well before the sudden public fascination with all things Shakespearian because of John Madden's wonderful film Shakespeare In Love, Borden's album is timely indeed. Borden is by no means simply a local actor. He is, along with author George Elliott Clarke, one of the towering figures of the African-Nova Scotia arts renaissance. With two major plays, God's Trombones and Tightrope Time, under his belt and a lifetime of arts and community activism, Borden should be a certified national treasure. His acting roles in the last two years alone, Tremblay's Hosana, The Gospel at Colonus, Travels With My Aunt, show a creative range that is almost staggering in its diversity. With a range of experience and maturity at his disposal, Borden approaches Shakespeare's sonnets with delicacy and determination. His readings are conversational in tone; he's always aware he is addressing an intimate friend or lover rather than declaiming the poems as if they were speeches. Consequently, the sonnets roll off his tongue with a sense of wizened pleasure. The pleasure, of course, comes from the Bard's extraordinary ability with words. Shakespeare's sonnets are more personal and more mysterious than any of his plays. On the other hand, they display many of the anguished, formal poses that reflected the rules of courtship in the wake of the age of courtly love. Hearing them read, however, by an extraordinary actor - who both knows and loves every word - brings a freshness and immediacy to poems that so often seem fiercely impenetrable when they lie inert upon the page. The choice of Sor's music could be considered a leap of faith. From the Elizabethan age of Shakespeare at the end of the European Renaissance to the late classical and early romantic period of Sor, there is a gap of almost 200 years. The equivalent musical contemporary of Shakespeare was John Dowland; his chief instruments were lutes and viols. His songs and motets might have helped place this album in a historical context. Mind you, an argument could be made this album is aimed at [a] larger, more general audience than academics, theatre types and art snobs. Sor's music, aptly played by Paul Martell, has a quality of clarity that matches Borden's sense of directness. The way the sonnets weave in and out, almost arbitrarily accompanies by Sor's restrained guitar studies, gives the album another layer of unexpectedness. A case could have been made for Borden to read the sonnets by himself or for new ambient music to be composed. Instead, the combination of Sor and Shakespeare makes for a consistently interesting album that sheds light on both classic artists. With a beautiful cover painting by Kasber and neat comer graphics by Joel Zemel, the album looks very much like a confident, ambitious project that takes itself quite seriously. The sonnets don't fit will [in] the CD booklet, often spilling over from line to line, ruining the sense of rhythm. It's a minor point. These sonnets are far better listening than reading, with Borden's sonorous voice being the ideal instrument of deliver. There is no better way to discover the intimacies of Shakespeare's sonnets than to experience Borden's rich, knowing renditions.The Daily News, February 4, 1999Borden Ideal Choice to Read Bard's Words A review by Ron Foley MacDonaldReview # 2:It is an uncharacteristically restrained Walter borden who reads 30 of Shakespeare's splendid sonnets on this new CD from Halifax production company SVP. Guitarist Paul Martell plays Fernando Sor's Etudes softly in the background. Both the restraint of the readings and the warm delicacy of the guitar create a meditative ambience that suits the extravagant elegance and concentrated rhetoric of Shakespeare's poetry. Borden, unquestionably one of our finest actors, with a voice as full of stops as a three-manual organ, uses only the Positiv organ create a feeling of intimacy close to that of unspoken thought. As he put it in a recent interview, it is as though we were eavesdropping on Shakespeare's thoughts as he sits writing them in a cafe.Borden's reading is well-paced and clear, and the guitar not only does not get in the way but serves as a sort of spotlight, illuminating the voice while cushioning us from surrounding distractions It is a CD you will have to listen to more than once. But once you get used to it, you will want to hold your breath. The poems include some of the best known (When To The Sessions of Sweet Silent Thought, Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day, When Forty Winters Shall Besiege Thy Brow), and some less well-known ones. They begin with the ravages of time, continue through the joys of love, and end philosophically by reconciling the two."Sunday. February 14, 1999 The Sunday Herald / EntertainmentBorden Reading Shakespeare Sonnets StunningA review by Stephen Pedersen, Arts Reporter

Additional Info A booklet entitled ' A Teacher's Guide" for Grade 10. Price:$2.00 Canadian. Available at http://www.svpproductions.com

Location Halifax, N.S. - Canada

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).