Christopher Logue: War Music

The Author’s Own Recording

By: Christopher Logue

Narrated by: Christopher Logue

War Music is a dramatic poem based on Homer’s Iliad. Logue worked on it for more than 40 years, and it was left incomplete at his death in 2011. At the time of this recording it was divided into three parts: "Kings", "The Husbands", and "War Music", the last of which is further divided into three sections: "Patrocleia", "GBH", and "Pax". War Music later became the poem’s general title. Commissioned in the first instance by BBC Radio, War Music changed slightly as it developed, which means that there are a number of small discrepancies between the published and the recorded work.

The Iliad itself is a continuous narrative of some 16,000 lines and is generally thought to be the product of a poetic tradition as much as or even more than of an individual poet. It tells the story of the war fought over the departure of Helen from Greece to Troy.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Christopher Logue (P)2021 Christopher Logue

Best version of the Iliad

Logue’s reading is so different from a usual professional audiobook reader. His voice isn’t as nice as theirs; but his delivery is so much more engaging. He has the freedom to shout, pause, sound bored or spiteful or tired. I’ve never heard poetry performed so successfully.