Customer Reviews

Children's Classics - Prokofiev: Peter & The Wolf / Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals / Britten: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (Bernstein Century)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am an elementary music teacher, and I use all three of these works in my classroom. "Peter and the Wolf" is a great introduction to classical music for my kindergarten and first grade, and Britten's "Young Persons Guide" is a great way to introduce the instruments of the orchestra. "Carnival of the Animals" is a hit with all of my students.

I have individual recordings of each of these works at school, but I still prefer to bring in my Bernstein CD from home. There is something truly excellent about the Bernstein narration; his calm manner reminds me of another of my heroes, Fred Rogers.

I especially enjoy that Bernstein chose to include young people (ages 13 to 23) in "Carnival of the Animals." The kids are really excited to hear someone close to their age.

Maybe Bernstein isn't new or flashy, but he is a welcome break from the copious flash in my students' lives.

While it's true that Bernstein's narration is sometimes awkward, I find even the awkwardness appealing - it's like listening to your childless uncle who doesn't know how to talk to kids. "Peter and the Wolf" brings back childhood memories of acting out the piece with my cousins; the wolf's theme still sounds pleasantly scarey to me. But over the years my favorite piece on this album has become "A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra," which is narrated not by Bernstein but by a young boy. His clear, simple speaking style is perfect, and nicely paced. By the way, this CD is essentially the same as "Bernstein's Favorites - Children's Classics." The cover art is less cutesy, and the music has been digitally remastered - but on my modest CD player the difference isn't noticeable.

Though I have not listened to this recording in 30 years, I can still hear the voice of Mr. Bernstein in my mind (he always sounded like he had allergies). His independent treatment of each of the voices in each segment, is a powerful way to teach a child to hear distinct sub-parts in any classical piece. It is, in my judgement, the finest work of its kind to this day; but that is not its only appeal.

Mr. Bernstein's inspired interpretation of the piece survives as a unique achievement. His use of the double base in the Swan, played by Gary Carr, is like no other, as is their ponderous voice in his visit with the elephants. His construction of the dinosaur bones has a clarity and energy, unlikely to be replicated out of the blase Philharmonic of the latter day.

I anticipate hearing this piece, accompanied by the wonderment on the faces of my children, hearing it for the first time, with tears.

Bernstein is usually good at communicating the essence of classical Music.Listen to his exposition of Beethoven's 3rd Symphony in the sony classical Release-"How A Great Symphony was Written".Here however he seems to be totally confused whether he is the conductor or Story Teller and struggles to make a Start!He starts tentatively with a Quiz!
For a superb story telling and terrific performance I strongly recommend Lorin Maazel with the French National Orchestra,A DG release(MUSIKFEST LABEL).The narration by Alec Clunes is absolutely delightful.Thank you very much Mr Alec Clunes!The voice modulation and characterisation is spontaneous and infectitious!Lorin maazel does a neat job with Britten's "Young Person's Guide to The Orchestra".Highly recommended for repeated Listening.

This is perfect for children, especially the wonderfully musical talent of the twins: Naomi and Ruth Segal. Whatever happened to them? We in the music industry expected a budding career for each- too bad. Instead, Naomi had Jenni.

I love the three works that are on this CD, and I must say that the music is wonderful and very enjoyable. However, I was rather disappointed to find the narration on this CD. I plan to use this CD for music education purposes, and while in some situations the commentary will be useful, there are certain activities that will not be practical with all the interruptions of the music. While I would wholeheartedly recommend this for the musical content, I would be sure the people knew about the narration so they could decide whether or not that would bother them enough to choose a different CD.

Great Narration. I don't know why people think Bernstein's voice is not 'kid-friendly'. I'm actually glad to have a male voice talking to the kids once in a while, and he tells the story of Peter and the Wolf well. My kids learned a lot about the various instruments of the orchestra from all three pieces. We combined this with the following game for a great intro to the orchestra!

[...]

It is refreshing to list to Leonard Bernstein tell about the orchestra and educate the audience with his natural ability to impart information while telling a story. You can't improve on this redendition of these perennial children's favorites.

Classical children's introduciton to orchestral music; this version is well-performed, and eminently suitable for portable CD players.

We purchased this because my 5 year old was studying Peter and the Wolf in music camp, and I am so glad that we did! Not only do my boys all recognize the animals/instruments in Peter and the Wolf, they sing along! They are also singing along to many parts of the Carnival of the Animals. This has been their cd of choice every day for the past three weeks.

Some reviewers seem to dislike Bernstein's narration, but I found it to be very appealing.