Customer Reviews

Heigh-Ho Mozart - Favorite Disney Tunes in the style of Great Classical Composers

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a long, long time ago, I was wandering around one of those bricks and mortar bookstores. I usually pay little attention to the ambient muzak - but hark! Is that Seven Dwarf music I hear? I listened. I strode over to the music section. "What is this delightful music I hear? I must have it!" And so I did, and so should you!

In the accompanying lesson booklet, Shirley Fleming asks: "What accounts for that elusive thing called style? What makes one composer's music different from another's? ... The music `paraphrased' here covers three centuries and close to a dozen countries. It gives us a bird's-eye view of a very wide range of musical personalities, and - as you will hear - each has his own distinctive voice."

The composer/arranger/conductor of this wonderful CD, Donald Fraser, says: "This collection brings together two magical worlds: the world of Disney and the world of classical music. The album fulfills a wish I've held for some 15 years - to help introduce today's audiences to classical music via some of the most familiar and beloved melodies in movie history."

Educational factor aside, this CD is just plain fun! The arrangements are rich and lush. My favorite is Heigh-Ho a la Mozart. Picture the Seven Dwarfs marching off to their daily toil in the mines as you listen to this on your morning commute! The Second Star to the Right chorale reminds me of the St. Olaf Choir when they're going fine! There's a Joplin-esque "Under the Sea" and a stirring "Can you Feel the Love Tonight" a la Tchaikovsky ( no 1812 canons, but some buildups come close!- Elton never did it this way!) and a spritely "Winnie the Pooh."

What an excellent 100th birthday celebration for Walt Disney!

The game of translating a piece of music from one style to another is an old one, and can have many different results. It can seem like just a new arrangement of an old song, or an interesting combination, or its own new piece entirely. This eclectic collection shows several of the possibilities.

[Warning: I have no musical training, and these are personal impressions, not educated analysis. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.]

The Mozart version of "Heigh Ho" is a straightforward rendering of Disney's tune in Mozart's style. It's fun, but not a tour de force. The Johann Strauss "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" is similarly interesting, but doesn't really rise above the level of a re-arrangement of a familiar thirties movie tune.

By contrast, the Rachmaninoff version of "Beauty and the Beast" adds to the emotional effect. The love song plays well in this form. Similarly, the Tchaikovsky approach greatly improves "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" Yes, now I can feel it, which I never quite did in the Elton John original version. The impression of Handel's Water Music (I think) adds to the effect of "Little April Shower".

A very few pieces became new and excellent works on their own. "I Wanna Be Like You" translated very well from its Jazz origin to Villa-Lobos classical guitar, and "Under the Sea" makes a very good Joplin rag. These translations work so well that they are almost new songs, rather than variations, just as "West Side Story" became its own story, not just "Romeo and Juliet in New York".

Some of the combinations are obvious and straightforward. "Feed the Birds", for example - a Brahms version of this sentimental lullabye is not much of a stretch. And both the words and music of "Second Star to the Right" fit well as a Tallis Canon. (It's the only piece with lyrics - in a polyphonic Renaissance religious style.) These versions work very well in the new style, and my appreciation for each song has gone up because of it.

Three pieces sounded very familiar to me, and it took me awhile to figure out why. The orchestrated Grieg "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes", Chopin "With a Smile and a Song" and Richard Strauss "When You Wish Upon a Star" didn't feel like translations at all - they felt like straightforward Disney. Eventually I realized that they mimicked perfectly the feel of the entrance music into the Magic Kingdom, which is, after all, orchestrated Disney tunes. If these three had been on a "Music from the Parks" album, I would have believed it completely.

The piece that fascinates me the most is the Vivaldi Main Street Electrical Parade. I've heard synthesized music trying to duplicate instrumentals, but this is the first time I've heard an instrumental copy of a synthesizer. The instrumental version almost, but not quite, captures the strange tones of the original. The result is that both versions run in my head together, and the piece becomes almost a fugue of what I hear and what I remember.

All in all, an interesting game of styles, and a varied and intriguing collection of music.

I found this CD while browsing through our public library's music selection. It looked interesting, so I go it. I have listened to that CD every single day since I got it--I listened to "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" four consecutive times on one occasion. The only thing I'd like better than listening to this music would be playing it. I think it would be a great way to introduce someone--not just a child, either--to classical music.

This music is relaxing and well recognized, played in a different style than you would normally expect! We played several selections during the receiving line at my daughter's wedding reception (she and her husband are "Disney nuts" and many people asked and commented about it. Even the DJ was impressed! It set a wonderful mood for the rest of the party. Each selection is a well-known tune, yet performed in an unexpected way. Young and old enjoy it very much. I now purchase it for gift giving occasions.

For many a baby boomer, Walt Disney meant animation. But, besides that, music played an important part in the telling of the story. So interested in music was the animator that he fashioned one of his greatest triumphs ("Fantasia") on the works of the great masters.

Well, Donald Frasier and a bevy of musicians have compiled a wonderful collection of interpretations of familiar Disney tunes, many from Walt's time, along with a few latter day compositions.

Every selection is a winner, destined to make the listener reflect and recall the films from which they came. And if one is familiar with the composer whose musical style is "copied" here, the album is a treasure.

Being a classical music connoisseur, I often listen to my local public classical radio station to hear the works of the great composers of old and of today. One day the station played "Colors of the Wind" and announced it was from this CD. I fell in love with it. I am a huge Disney fan who has over 350 Disney songs on my iPod. Pretty much the only music I listen to is either classical or Disney. And having them combined makes this CD euphoria for the ears.

Each song is in the style of a different classical composer, and usually in the style of one of their more specific songs. One with a trained ear will hear chords and melodies in almost perfect similitude of the original.

I can listen to this CD over and over and never get bored. How could you be bored when you're hearing all of your favorite old Disney songs in a new exciting way?

Disney music is always uplifting. Classical music is beautiful. Combine the two - and you get THIS! "Colors of the Wind" is glorious, followed by the enchanting title track. "Beauty and the Beast" is true to the romance of the original. "The Second Star to the Right" is magical. Everything is awesome - and flawless. I initially bought this because I love The Main Street Electrical Parade music, and that is definiely a highlight here - but so are ALL the other songs! This is GOOD STUFF! It is so excellent that it can be a very beneficial introduction to classical music - for kids AND adults.

A whimsical, delightful recording. Well done arrangements of Disney's greatest hits in the styles of great composers.

This album is not only a delightful musical joke, it's also good music. The choices of composers are inspired, and each composer's style is convincingly reproduced. It's great fun.

My nieces thought they were going to get a great cd from their favorite aunt. However, after listening to the unique and uplifting music I decided that I'd have to get another one for them! I just had to add this to my collection. Now people wonder why I am humming Mary Poppins tunes at work!!