Customer Reviews

Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf; Britten: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

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

 

 

The narrator Alec Clunes does a fine job in Peter and the Wolf, and Maazel's ballet sensibility pays off. (In fact, you should find his recording of Romeo and Juliet if you can.) Maazel also does well as the narrator in Britten's piece, and I don't find the altered text (approved by Britten) inhibiting at all. There are also a few orchestral perks: the French National Orchestra was a fine opera orchestra, and it portrays the various characters and instruments well. A highlight is the great and rarely recorded flutist Fernand Dufrene, who uses his uncanny skill in tonal blend to play a fine bird (at least I think it's him - there are no solo attributions). The other soloists are fine and attentive. Other recordings I would recommend are Dorati with Connery narrating, and at least one of the modern-sound recordings just for reference. In this I tend to favor Abbado, who is the finest of today's Prokofiev conductors, with Sting, or Nagano with Loren/Clinton (yes, Bill)/Gorbachev (yes, Mikhail). The latter recording features a fine new composition which is a sequal to Peter and the Wolf.

My kids and I have much enjoyed this recording, but the narration is often too quiet and sounds a bit muffled. Moreover, the narrator speaks with a British accent, making comprehension a bit trickier for little ones. In general, I have missed the sound quality obtained in digital recordings, so I'm now shopping for a better recording of this wonderful piece of music.

My father gave this to my son when he was a baby. We tried it at age 1, but it was too scary. My son is 2-1/2 and loves listening to this - it is very well narrated. The first day I took it out again, he listened to it 3 or 4 times. We don't usually do the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra piece, so I can't comment on that.

This was one of my favorites as a child, and now I'm sharing it with my grandkids!! Excellent, thank you!

I think that it was a great idea for Prokofiev to write this piece. It teaches children about the orchestra while entertaining them.