Which Emma recording should you buy?
The complete readings of Emma that we list run 14 hrs 31 mins to 18 hrs 27 mins. Mixed in with them: abridgements, including one by the reader of a complete edition, BBC radio dramatisations, and an AI voice.
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Short answer
Juliet Stevenson: complete and solo, from Naxos, and she reads the complete Pride and Prejudice too. Jenny Agutter, Tanya Reynolds, Alison Larkin and the other complete readings in the table run 14 hrs 31 mins to 18 hrs 27 mins; choose on voice. The listing to check is Stevenson's own: her name is also on a Naxos abridgement of Emma, so look at the runtime as well as the reader. Fiona Shaw's Penguin recording is abridged too, and long for an abridgement. The BBC Radio 4 productions are plays with a cast, both marked unabridged in Audible's catalogue. And the AI Voice Bob edition is a synthetic voice.
The recordings, compared
| Narrator | Length | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Juliet Stevenson Our pick | 16 hrs 39 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo, from Naxos. The same reader has a Naxos abridgement under the same title, below. |
| Jenny Agutter | 14 hrs 45 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo, from Audible Studios. |
| Tanya Reynolds | 14 hrs 31 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo, the Penguin Classics edition. |
| Rachel Atkins | 17 hrs 10 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Alison Larkin | 16 hrs 46 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Anna Bentinck | 18 hrs 25 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Wanda McCaddon | 14 hrs 42 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Michael Page | 16 hrs 13 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. Listed as the AmazonClassics Edition. |
| Kathryn Drysdale | 18 hrs 27 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| Richard Baker | 17 hrs 12 mins | Unabridged | Complete and solo. |
| AI Voice Bob | 21 hrs 19 mins | AI narration (Virtual Voice) | The text read by a synthetic voice: Audible's catalogue flags it as a Virtual Voice title. |
| Angharad Rees and a full cast | 5 hrs 16 mins | BBC full-cast dramatisation | A radio play: subtitled "A BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation", although Audible's catalogue marks it unabridged. |
| Eve Best, Robert Bathurst, Marcia Warren, Norman Rodway and a full cast | 1 hr 54 mins | BBC full-cast dramatisation | A different BBC Radio 4 play, also marked unabridged in Audible's catalogue. |
| Fiona Shaw | 6 hrs 7 mins | Abridged | ABRIDGED, at 42% of the shortest complete reading here. |
| Juliet Stevenson | 3 hrs 45 mins | Abridged | ABRIDGED: the same reader and publisher as the complete pick. |
| Prunella Scales | 2 hrs 57 mins | Abridged | Abridged. |
| Jeremy Northam | 2 hrs 48 mins | Abridged | Abridged. |
| Sophie Thompson | 2 hrs 52 mins | Abridged | Abridged. |