Customer Reviews

Prokofiev: Peter And The Wolf / Saint-Saëns: Carnival Of The Animals

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

 

 

In this CD our host Leonard Bernstein (called Lenny by many) pretty takes us on a musical journey to two of the beloved classic suited for children (and adults alike); "Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev", and "Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Seans".

Upside - "Peter and the Wolf". This performance of every child's musical storybook is a definite thumbs-up. Lenny's narration, pretty straightforward but never dull, is an absolute delight, and the fact that he actually quizzes on different characters on different instrumetns is quite handy too. Lenny and the New York Phil sums up a a top-notch performance, only matched by a charming performance done by Sting and Claudio Abbado.

Downside - "The Carnival of the Animals", for several reasons (and it's not because of referring "people with long ears" (donkeys of course) as "jack-asses", certainly literal in meaning at the time unlike how we use that term today...).

1) The orchestra - it's apparently not a bad performance, but its unbelievably reckless fast tempo and the lack of musically make the orchestra sounds as if it wants to get the session done with (Levi's version is much more refined and enjoyable).

2) Surrounding noises - a doorslam during "The Swan", and a cough during the finale, just to name a few.

3) Solo for "The Swan" - It's quite acknowledging of the fact that Lenny actually lets talented teenagers/young adults do the solo, but why did he let a double-bass solo play this piece? It's a nice performance alright, but we all expected for a CELLO!!!

Buy this CD only for "Peter and the Wolf"; Levi's version (with poems instead of actual lectures) would do for the "Carnival".

My 3 1/2-year-old loves listening to Peter and the Wolf, and has taken to humming the melody for Peter. Bernstein gives a little quiz at the beginning, and right away my son caught on. However, I find Bernstein's tone to be a bit pompous. There are other good recordings out their, including Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, w/ , I think, Richard Harris narrating. The Carnival of the Animals held no interest for my son--perhaps a bit old for him.

Both my daughter and I love this version of Peter and the Wolf, which is greatly enhanced by Leonard Bernstein's commentary. She loves hearing about all the different instruments in addition to listening to the story. It has saved many a long car trip for us. The carnival of the animals is a little over her head, but I enjoy listening to Mr. Bernstein's witty comments.

I loved this recording when I had the album growing up. Bernstein's commentary is easy for children to follow, but he doesn't talk down to them. Carnival of the Animals is also fun music for children -- I'd chose this over Raffi any day!

In this CD, Leonard Bernstein conducts some well-known and loved music (composed for children, they say, but I really love this recording, and I am 23!) by Prokofiev and Saint-Saenz. He is also the narrator of the story, and his explicit commentaries on the "Carnival of the Animals" are concise and adequate. The marvellous intonation of the NYP is well noted in this recording. Excellent!

This CD is a major disappointment. The"narration" by Leonard Bernstein is NOT the Ogden Nash version but a dull soporific lecture on the instruments absolutely bound to turn any child or young person off of music forever. Don't waste your money!Read the fine print carefully in order to obtain the traditional Ogden Nash narration. The "Peter and the Wolf" is fine but there are as good versions to be found on other CD's.

Especially when the sound quality is just so bad, you have to strain to hear just what Bernstein is saying for Peter and the Wolf and the volume levels increase only slightly for the Carnival of the Animals making this an extremely boring cd and definitely not worth the money. I'd recommend waiting for a remastered version of this to be released or to get some other version instead.

I bought and listened to several different versions of Peter and the Wolf. I found this to be the best one for young children. However, I have not heard the one with Dom Deluise as the narrator and I have been told that that one is quite good.

There is a lot of narration throughout the Carnival of the Animals, which is distracting if you are just hoping to sit down and listen to classical music. The narration is not very insightful, either. It seems to have been intended for kids. But the music is good when you get over the narration.

Sony released a terrific version of this without Lenny's narration. I recall the catalogue number was SONY 39446. - Where can one obtain this? It is equally fabulous!

mank@roadrunner.com.