2006 Ringarnas Herre (Jan Waldekranz)

The Lord of the Rings

Release Date: 2006.05.15 – 10.10
Reader: Jan Waldekranz
Language: Swedish
Translators: Erik Andersson (Lotta Olsson verse), 2004-2005
Organization: Norstedts Audio
Copyright: © 2006 Norstedts Audio
ISBN: See below
Duration: 56 hours 32 minutes
Unabridged: Yes
Country: Sweden
Licenced: Yes
Formats: CD, MP3-CD, Digital

Jan Waldekranz (born 1952) is an accomplished actor with the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) in Stockholm. He brings a sophisticated, theatrical “Dramaten-style” gravity to the reading. His voice is deep and resonant, but he is more focused on the linguistic precision of the new translation than on over-acting the characters. Waldekranz also recorded the 2008 version of Hobbiten, ensuring that Swedish listeners have a consistent voice across the entire new translations.

It is the audio debut of the newer, more accurate Swedish translation. In the older version, “Baggins” was Bagger. This uses the new name: Secker. Bag End became Säcks ände. Rivendell (previously Vattnadal) became Riftedal. The poems in this version were translated by the poet Lotta Olsson. Waldekranz reads them with a lyrical, rhythmic quality that emphasizes their structure as “real” verse rather than just prose interruptions. Unlike the “Saga-style” of the older version, this translation (and Waldekranz’s delivery) follows Tolkien’s own instructions much more closely, resulting in a text that is tighter, more direct, and less prone to the flowery embellishments.

In late 2012 a boxed set of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings was released. Within it, are the same MP3 digipack sleeves as the individual releases.

The translators are themselves prominent authors, Erik Andersson (b. 1963) is an author and translator. Lotta Olsson (b. 1973) writes poetry and daily verses in Expressen.

Broadcast History: