i'd never heard of either the phrase �*ages of man�* orjohn gielgud, and the other was laurence olivierusic by sir william walton, and i asked our head of english if i could borrow them. i liked the bright, shiny nature of them. i think i half heard in some distant part of my memory this name, "olivier". anyway, i took them home and i was bowled over. already aware of sort of two extremes. in the 0livier excerpts which were from the soundtracks of the films, things like his account of hamlet�*s to be or not to be soliloquy which, in his brilliant film, has him atop a rocky outcrop, looking down onto the wild sea crashing against the rocks while he contemplate suicide. while he contemplates suicide. so he begins to be or not to be and goes through it, and william walton's music is soaring, shouting and trilling and supporting and the sound effects of the water and the wind and the waves. i mean, it's shakespeare plus a lot of bells and whistles in addition to 0livier�*s beautiful voice. olivier: to be. or not to be. john gielgud by contrast, the ages of man being an account of his recita