2010 Die Abenteuer Des Tom Bombadil (Gert Heidenreich)

The Adventures of Tom Bombadil

Release Date: 2010.01.13
Reader: Gert Heidenreich
Language: German
Translator: Ebba-Margareta von Freymann
Organisation: Der Hörverlag
ISBN: 9783867175241
Duration: 1 hours 16 minutes
Unabridged: Yes
Country: Germany
Licenced: Yes
Formats: CD, Digital

Gert Heidenreich is a prominent German author, journalist, and voice artist born in Eberswalde in 1944. He is widely recognized as one of the most significant voices in German audiobooks, particularly for his work on epic fantasy and literary classics. Noted for his deep, resonant, and warm timbre, he approaches the text with a sense of “archaic dignity.” Treating the story seriously, avoiding the “squeaky” or overly “cartoony” voices that some narrators use for children’s books.

The audiobook is titled Die Abenteuer des Tom Bombadil und andere Gedichte aus dem Roten Buch. It is a complete reading of the 16 poems featured in the original 1962 collection. Heidenreich reads these not as random poems, but as the “Dichtkunst der Hobbits” (the poetry of the Hobbits), treating them as traditional rhymes found in the Red Book of Westmarch.

The recording uses the translation of the poems by Ebba-Margareta von Freymann translations which preserve the alliteration and internal rhyming patterns that Tolkien loved. Because there is no background music in this production, the “music” comes entirely from Heidenreich’s vocal delivery and the rhythmic structure of Von Freymann’s text.