Wolfram Kandinsky; Narrator of Audio Books

Wolfram Kandinsky, 52, known for his reading of “Lonesome Dove” and other well-known audio books. Born Daniel Grace, Kandinsky graduated from St. Louis University and became a Shakespearean actor. But he found his metier as a narrator. Working with his Miro Recordings, Kandinsky became one of the first narrators for Books on Tape in 1975. He read some 200 unabridged books into microphones, including the work of Larry McMurtry, James Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and his own favorite author, Joseph Conrad. The Times’ former arts editor Charles Champlin, in reviewing Kandinsky’s reading of McMurtry’s “Cadillac Jack,” wrote that the narrator “has a laconic voice and a subtle command of American regional accents that fits the material like a caressing glove.” In reviewing the taped version of McMurtry’s classic “Lonesome Dove,” Champlin called Kandinsky’s narrative voice “thin and hard as a strand of fence wire and just right for these proceedings.” On July 6 in Wayne County, Ga., after a long illness.