# The best speaking voice



## cwarchc

Who has/had the best speaking voice?
I will start this off with a master
Richard Burton, reading Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood"
A great Welshman reading another Welshman's poetry


----------



## aleazk

HAL 9000:


----------



## ComposerOfAvantGarde

Skip to 1:24






That suave, seductive voice....


----------



## Kleinzeit




----------



## aleazk

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> That suave, seductive voice....


I didn't know that the word "suave" existed in english . In spanish "suave" means soft, smooth.


----------



## Crudblud

aleazk said:


> I didn't know that the word "suave" existed in english . In spanish "suave" means soft, smooth.


You should have realised by now that we just steal our words from other languages!


----------



## moody

aleazk said:


> I didn't know that the word "suave" existed in english . In spanish "suave" means soft, smooth.


It exists :smooth,agreeable,gracious. From old French.


----------



## jani




----------



## KenOC

The Voice: "I find your lack of faith disturbing."


----------



## moody

Sir John Guilguid,Charlton Heston.James Mason.


----------



## aleazk

I love Werner Herzog's voice as an off voice in his documentaries:


----------



## cwarchc

Here's another master of the craft
Laurence Olivier reading Hamlet,starts at around 1.00, You just have to listen to some Walton whilst you wait


----------



## Guest

It depends on the purpose. For authoritative documentaries, my favourite was always Paul Vaughan (the second voice you hear in this clip...)


----------



## moody

Gregory Peck,David Niven,Robert Preston.


----------



## Ingélou

Richard Burton, beyond doubt. James Mason too.

But what about Alan Badel - the most beautiful, haunting voice with the most glittering eyes, when he starred in the 1960s BBC Sunday Serial, 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. Oh my, oh my....! 

Also very seductive, the voice of Jonathan Hyde playing the Victorian/Edwardian barrister Edward Marshall Hall in 'The Shadow of the Noose' (BBC Thursday evening series, late 1980s).


----------



## ptr

*Bruno Ganz*









*Michael Lonsdale*









*Erland Josephson*

/ptr


----------



## Mesa




----------



## cwarchc

Burton's the popular choice upto now
Here's another giant in his own right


----------



## SteveVillaMassone

aleazk said:


> I didn't know that the word "suave" existed in english . In spanish "suave" means soft, smooth.
> 
> 
> 
> Crudblud said:
> 
> 
> 
> You should have realised by now that we just steal our words from other languages!
> 
> 
> 
> We have the same one, in france, with the same meanning. :x
Click to expand...


----------



## aleazk

Well, according to my recent internet investigation, "suave" comes from the latin "suāvis". French and spanish are both tongues which came from latin, so Crudblud is right.


----------



## KenOC

Suave? You want suave? Taco Grande!


----------



## aleazk

Yeah, "suave" will _not_ be the indigestion after that.


----------



## Ryan

Andrew Lloyd Webber


----------



## elgar's ghost

Laurence Olivier on Jeremy Isaac's The World at War.

John Chancellor on Ken Burns's Baseball.

Sadly, there may be copyright issues which prevent much of either of them from being available on Youtube - a pity, because John Chancellor's introduction to the first episode of Baseball is especially unforgettable, as is Olivier's magisterial tone throughout the whole World at War series.


----------



## PetrB

cwarchc said:


> Who has/had the best speaking voice?
> I will start this off with a master
> Richard Burton, reading Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood"
> A great Welshman reading another Welshman's poetry


Another astonishing listen: Burton recorded a selection of the poems of the World War I poet, Wilfred Owen (the selection may also have included poetry by some of Owen's peers.) The sheer musicality of this reading is enough to sometimes take your attention off the words, if one tracks that sort of thing.

No Mention so far of Boris Karloff, and his wonderful readings of selections from Kipling's _The Jungle Book_?


----------



## moody

SteveVillaMassone said:


> aleazk said:
> 
> 
> 
> I didn't know that the word "suave" existed in english . In spanish "suave" means soft, smooth.
> 
> We have the same one, in france, with the same meanning. :x
> 
> 
> 
> That's probably because it's French--as I've already pointed out!!!
Click to expand...


----------



## moody

aleazk said:


> Well, according to my recent internet investigation, "suave" comes from the latin "suāvis". French and spanish are both tongues which came from latin, so Crudblud is right.


Yes,but we were discussing the actual word "suave", remember?


----------



## PetrB

moody said:


> Yes,but we were discussing the actual word "suave", remember?


Romance languages, Roman, Latin > French, Romanian (Roma), Spanish, Italian...........


----------



## Ralfy




----------



## presto

People do seem to have a preference to the English accent, and a slightly posh one too.
I confess to liking Stephen fry’s whimsical voice.


----------



## Vaneyes

I like the versatile voice-over guys. *David Kaye *is one.


----------



## PetrB

Burton is still, of the magnificent male voices listed through this thread, the most simply musical speaker.

I forgot though, if any are fortunate enough to lay hands on an audio clip of Irish Actress Siobhán McKenna (deceased, not the pop singer, people ;-) reading from / acting in her one-woman James Joyce theater piece the conversation between the two washerwomen by the River Liffey _(Dubliners)_, or _Molly Bloom's Soliloquy_ _(Ulysses)_, you will hear not only a virtuoso musical speaking voice, but also the real music in the Joyce texts -- clearly meant to be sounded, at least in the head, or spoken aloud.

(That is, if you do not already have the vernacular sound of that Irish in your inner ear


----------



## moody

presto said:


> People do seem to have a preference to the English accent, and a slightly posh one too.
> I confess to liking Stephen fry's whimsical voice.


Well,that's not true is it ?Burton certainly isn't English and he is doing pretty well.


----------



## maestro57

Sir David Attenborough.


----------



## Sudonim

Roscoe Lee Browne.


----------



## moody

James Earl Jones (Darth Vador's voice). Sir Alec Guiness.


----------



## science




----------



## Guest

My vote goes to *Christopher Hitchens*. I leave you with one of his quotes that I quite like (one of many to be found on the Internet) :

_Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you. _


----------



## Guest

moody said:


> Well,that's not true is it ?Burton certainly isn't English and he is doing pretty well.


You've supplied only two thirds truth, moody.



TalkingHead said:


> My vote goes to *Christopher Hitchens*. I leave you with one of his quotes that I quite like (one of many to be found on the Internet) :
> 
> _Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you. _


This just goes to show that what people have to say is more important than the quality of the voice that says it.


----------



## handlebar

My idol, Cary Grant and a man I met a few years ago, Sam Elliot.


----------



## ptr

handlebar said:


> ..and a man I met a few years ago, Sam Elliot.


His Voice Over in The Big Lebowski is awesome!

/ptr


----------



## moody

I think Tom Baker ,an ex very good Dr.Who,qualifies and he does voice-overs.


----------



## moody

MacLeod said:


> You've supplied only two thirds truth, moody.
> 
> This just goes to show that what people have to say is more important than the quality of the voice that says it.


OK I give in,what does this mean ?


----------



## Guest

moody said:


> OK I give in,what does this mean ?


You were right to say that

"that's not true" and
"Burton certainly isn't English"

But, given that he's dead, you were wrong to say that

'he's doing pretty well".


----------



## moody

MacLeod said:


> You were right to say that
> 
> "that's not true" and
> "Burton certainly isn't English"
> 
> But, given that he's dead, you were wrong to say that
> 
> 'he's doing pretty well".


I meant here but you knew that--don't give up the day job to become a comedian.


----------



## moody

Patrick Stewart--Jean-Luc Picard has a great stage actor's voice.


----------



## Ingélou

moody said:


> Patrick Stewart--Jean-Luc Picard has a great stage actor's voice.


He's a good actor, but I don't like his voice: it's too British, too 'hail-fellow-well-met'.


----------



## moody

Ingenue said:


> He's a good actor, but I don't like his voice: it's too British, too 'hail-fellow-well-met'.


Can't agree with that,his voice is a rich,dramatic baritone. What's wrong with sounding British (is there such a thing?) I mean Taggart's British.
No he sounds English,but then your comment rules out Alec Guiness,Olivier and Gielguid.
Have you nominated someone and from where---Birmingham ?


----------



## Ingélou

moody said:


> Can't agree with that,his voice is a rich,dramatic baritone. What's wrong with sounding British (is there such a thing?) I mean Taggart's British.
> No he sounds English,but then your comment rules out Alec Guiness,Olivier and Gielguid.
> Have you nominated someone and from where---Birmingham ?


Yes, sorry, should have said 'English'. I suppose 'British' has nuances for me - bluff cove, pint of beer sort of stuff. 
I'd also like to qualify my praise of Patrick Stewart's acting. He can do wonderful 'turns', such as when his character mind-melded with Spock's father and when he was being tortured by an evil Cardassian - but when he's 'just being captain', honestly, listen to him, he sounds as if he's reading the lines.

He's better as a Shakespearean. I know off by heart his 'Claudius' in the BBC Hamlet (Derek Jacobi). There, his 'bluff cove' bit underlines the usurper's insincerity; he also does a good prayer scene. But he resorts to tricks - vomiting with the effects of sin etc - and that is less convincing.

If you watch old films, the really-posh English accent sounds dated & a bit funny, but I draw the line at Birmingham! No, there's a smoothed-down Received Pronunciation that is neutral & very acceptable these days. Guinness, Olivier & Gielgud I rate highly; Alec Guinness is more RP than 'posh', and Olivier's voice is very versatile; Gielgud sometimes verges on the too-posh.

I hope that has cleared matters up?


----------



## moody

Ingenue said:


> Yes, sorry, should have said 'English'. I suppose 'British' has nuances for me - bluff cove, pint of beer sort of stuff.
> I'd also like to qualify my praise of Patrick Stewart's acting. He can do wonderful 'turns', such as when his character mind-melded with Spock's father and when he was being tortured by an evil Cardassian - but when he's 'just being captain', honestly, listen to him, he sounds as if he's reading the lines.
> 
> He's better as a Shakespearean. I know off by heart his 'Claudius' in the BBC Hamlet (Derek Jacobi). There, his 'bluff cove' bit underlines the usurper's insincerity; he also does a good prayer scene. But he resorts to tricks - vomiting with the effects of sin etc - and that is less convincing.
> 
> If you watch old films, the really-posh English accent sounds dated & a bit funny, but I draw the line at Birmingham! No, there's a smoothed-down Received Pronunciation that is neutral & very acceptable these days. Guinness, Olivier & Gielgud I rate highly; Alec Guinness is more RP than 'posh', and Olivier's voice is very versatile; Gielgud sometimes verges on the too-posh.
> 
> I hope that has cleared matters up?


The problem here is of course that you are a Northerner,so your perception is different from mine. But I'll let you into a secret ,Mr. Stewart is a Yorkshireman.
As for Gielguid ,his voice is generally recognised as the most mellifluous of all time.


----------



## Ingélou

moody said:


> The problem here is of course that you are a Northerner,so your perception is different from mine. But I'll let you into a secret ,Mr. Stewart is a Yorkshireman.
> As for Gielguid ,his voice is generally recognised as the most mellifluous of all time.


With respect, that isn't the problem. I couldn't be an English teacher for 30 years & hold prejudices about accents. On the contrary, I required my Northern students to adopt a 'long a' in words where a poem's rhyme or metre demanded it.

Patrick Stewart could have been raised in Greenland for all I care! I just don't like his voice. Olivier comes from London, and I like his. Alan Badel, my all-time favourite male voice, was born in Lancashire but I still like him; besides, he doesn't play the Count of Monte Cristo with a Lancashire accent! 

As for Gielgud (I like your spelling, because he is unco guid!) I praised him, remember. And I like his voice, but sometimes it is *too* mellifluous, almost like chanting - as if he's in love with his own voice and not thinking about his character. But I still rate him.

Moody, you are a connoisseur of music & quibble all the time about recordings. I don't have that detailed experience. But I do have experience of training readers & actors, and analysing the same. And I have preferences too, like everyone else.

And much as I like Patrick Stewart, his speaking voice just does not grab me - okay?


----------



## Symphonical

David Attenborough 
Stephen Fry
Alan Rickman - "Turn to page three hundred and nine-ty-four"
Billy Connolly - Oh, aye, I can't just hear his voice right now, aye.

I could listen to these guys for hours.


----------



## moody

Ingenue said:


> With respect, that isn't the problem. I couldn't be an English teacher for 30 years & hold prejudices about accents. On the contrary, I required my Northern students to adopt a 'long a' in words where a poem's rhyme or metre demanded it.
> 
> Patrick Stewart could have been raised in Greenland for all I care! I just don't like his voice. Olivier comes from London, and I like his. Alan Badel, my all-time favourite male voice, was born in Lancashire but I still like him; besides, he doesn't play the Count of Monte Cristo with a Lancashire accent!
> 
> As for Gielgud (I like your spelling, because he is unco guid!) I praised him, remember. And I like his voice, but sometimes it is *too* mellifluous, almost like chanting - as if he's in love with his own voice and not thinking about his character. But I still rate him.
> 
> Moody, you are a connoisseur of music & quibble all the time about recordings. I don't have that detailed experience. But I do have experience of training readers & actors, and analysing the same. And I have preferences too, like everyone else.
> 
> And much as I like Patrick Stewart, his speaking voice just does not grab me - okay?


Your premise is faulty because English teacher or no your prejudices are normally based on your upbringing.
You say that you don't like Patrick Stewart's voice ,fair enough but that's not what you said is it ?
Your description of Gielgud's way of using his voice is unrecognisable to me I'm afraid.
I also really must question an English teacher's choice of the verb 'quibble'. "argue or raise objections about a trivial matter "--" to evade the truth or importance of an issue by raising trivial distinctions and objections".
I most certainly hope that I don't do these things,certainly never intend to and am not pleased to be so accused.
This is all fairly trivial,but then the subject matter is of no great importance.


----------



## Ingélou

moody said:


> Your premise is faulty because English teacher or no your prejudices are normally based on your upbringing.
> You say that you don't like Patrick Stewart's voice ,fair enough but that's not what you said is it ?
> Your description of Gielgud's way of using his voice is unrecognisable to me I'm afraid.
> I also really must question an English teacher's choice of the verb 'quibble'. "argue or raise objections about a trivial matter "--" to evade the truth or importance of an issue by raising trivial distinctions and objections".
> I most certainly hope that I don't do these things,certainly never intend to and am not pleased to be so accused.
> This is all fairly trivial,but then the subject matter is of no great importance.


Why has my 'preference' become 'prejudice'? I'm not the one who harps on about the North-South divide! 
Just saying!


----------



## moody

Ingenue said:


> Why has my 'preference' become 'prejudice'? I'm not the one who harps on about the North-South divide!
> Just saying!


Prejudice : "Preconceived opinion".
I'm sorry that you consider innocent banter to be a matter of harping on ,fear not you won't hear it again.


----------



## Ingélou

I take pride in coming from the north, but that doesn't mean I have a prejudice against southerners.
Plus, I don't think we have to stay bounded by the tastes & opinions that surrounded us in our childhood. My father was an atheist & a communist, for example, but I am neither.

I enjoy banter, so I am glad to hear that you didn't mean that I judge literature and drama on the basis of whether it features southern or upper class characters or not. I have lived in the North, the South, the Midlands & now the East, and what I notice is that 'we're all Jock Tamson's bairns'. I wouldn't like it thought that I would 'take against' my neighbours.

Trouble at t'mill jokes are different, of course, & I'll be sorry if you stop making them. 









Trouble at t'mill?


----------



## Taggart

Symphonical said:


> ...
> Billy Connolly - Oh, aye, I can't just hear his voice right now, aye.
> 
> I could listen to these guys for hours.


If you like Billy Connolly, try Ian Cuthbertson - Budgie also include Rikki Fulton for another Glasgow voice. Cuthbertson appeared in a range of things in the 60's and 70's.


----------



## Ingélou

In particular, Iain Cuthbertson played Kerr of Cessford, the Warden of the Marches, in the BBC2 serial, 'The Borderers'; also Thomas Arnold, the headmaster, in 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'. He did have an attractive voice, and in fact I had a bit of a crush on him.


----------



## Guest

Ingenue said:


> Alan Badel,


Puts me in mind of another Alan whose voice I like...Howard. He played 'The Ring' in the _Lord of the Rings_ trilogy - great showcase for his vocal quality!



Ingenue said:


> In particular, Iain Cuthbertson played Kerr of Cessford, the Warden of the Marches, in the BBC2 serial, 'The Borderers'; also Thomas Arnold, the headmaster, in 'Tom Brown's Schooldays'.


And, of course, in _Sutherland's Law_ - lovely TV.


----------



## Guest

Taggart said:


> If you like Billy Connolly, try Ian Cuthbertson - Budgie also include Rikki Fulton for another Glasgow voice. Cuthbertson appeared in a range of things in the 60's and 70's.


And what about Ivor Cutler?


----------



## cwarchc

Sorry but nobody beats Burton, yet?


----------



## Guest

TalkingHead said:


> And what about Ivor Cutler?









cwarchc said:


> Sorry but nobody beats Burton, yet?


I'd rather listen to Cutler than Burton. And until Ken or neo start a poll, I don't think you can argue that Burton is 'unbeaten' 

(No, no guys, that's not an invitation!!)


----------



## Ingélou

Ooh, no! Sorry, MacLeod! 

Ivor Cutler's voice has character, I am sure, but it sounds a bit abrasive to me. I started to listen to your clip & felt as if something was cutting into my skin! So I'll stick to Richard Burton (& Alan Badel). 

Wouldn't mind if someone did a poll, but I don't know if anyone much is reading this thread!


----------



## Guest

MacLeod said:


>


Dear MacLeod, thank you for finding that audio clip. Magnificent !!!! I don't know why exactly, but the guy reminds me of Erik Satie. RIP, Ivor, and I'll always remember with great affection his "Old Cups of Tea".


----------



## Guest

TalkingHead said:


> Dear MacLeod, thank you for finding that audio clip. Magnificent !!!! I don't know why exactly, but the guy reminds me of Erik Satie. RIP, Ivor, and I'll always remember with great affection his "Old Cups of Tea".


Lovely, absurd, and his slightly querulous, mild Scots is, I find, a soothing counter to his barbed stories and poems. If you like eccentrics, English and Scots come together in Robert Wyatt's "Little Red Riding Hood Hits The Road"






Cutler cuts in at around 5.23. This was my first hearing of Cutler, I think, although it might have been on BBC2's End of the Pier Show (and there's another great voice - Valentine Dyall!


----------



## ZombieBeethoven

I am mildly surprised that all the candidates have been male.


----------



## Ingélou

ZombieBeethoven said:


> I am mildly surprised that all the candidates have been male.


Yes, that had occurred to me too. There are several possibilities. One is that one has less chance to hear a female speaking voice when it comes to a long recitation; another that there is possibly less variation in women's voices & therefore hard to find one that stands out; or maybe audiences tend to notice how a woman looks & are distracted from how she sounds.

I must admit to thinking that the average woman's voice is pleasanter than the average man's. If I had to go for a female voice, I'd pick Carol Smillie (UK TV, Scots) or Hattie Jacques (British Comedy Films) or actresses with 'husky' voices, like June Allison and Fenella Fielding.


----------



## Guest

ZombieBeethoven said:


> I am mildly surprised that all the candidates have been male.


Gosh, only just noticed. Let me try to redress that with a couple of women whose voices can melt me at 50 paces:
1st position: Cate Blanchett;
2nd position : Dame Edna Everage.


----------



## Ingélou

Dame Edna ... humph!


----------



## cwarchc

Good point, lets redress the gender balance
I think Mariella has a great voice





Here's a very "strong"women, she had to be to keep these schoolchildren in check????


----------



## TresPicos

I am mildly surprised that all the candidates have been English speakers. No, I'm not really surprised, but the person with the best speaking voice might not even speak English... 



ZombieBeethoven said:


> I am mildly surprised that all the candidates have been male.


The most beautiful Swedish speaking voice I've ever heard was female.


----------



## elgar's ghost

Ingenue - have you heard Fenella Fielding on Walton's Facade? She had just the right style of voice for her half of the texts (Michael Flanders did the others and he was a sound choice, too). I think Lady Lucinda Lambton might also have done a good job as she has a 'swoop' to her voice which would suit both the eccentricity of Edith Sitwell's words and Walton's musical arrangement.


----------



## ptr

TresPicos said:


> I am mildly surprised that all the candidates have been English speakers. No, I'm not really surprised, but the person with the best speaking voice might not even speak English...
> The most beautiful Swedish speaking voice I've ever heard was female.


Not completely true, I tried to make a Eurocentric in-pass in post No #16. But as English "unfortunately" is the working language of TC and the anglo-american majority are often slightly unacknowledged outside the voices of Shakespearian theatre and Hollywood junk, we, who have a little bit wider international base for our voice recognition scheme often get no response... 

/ptr


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

If having a low, clear, full voice is attractive in both men _and _women, I think I'm a candidate. 

In elementary school, 5th grade, I was called to a private meeting with the 5th grade teachers.  Uh oh, what did I do wrong?? No, they just told me that I had a nice voice, and that they would like me to do the morning announcements for a week. Note, I was a bit more shy back then than now, but I accepted the offer and I did it.  It was alright after all. I've always had a lowish voice, and I'm a mezzo-soprano in singing (wide-ranged).


----------



## aleazk

Speaking of low voices, check this, lol:


----------



## Huilunsoittaja

aleazk said:


> Speaking of low voices, check this, lol:


I kinda imagine Glazunov's voice sounding like that, sounds about right according descriptions.


----------

