Customer Reviews

The Royal Philharmonic Collection: Nursery Rhymes Suite

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I bought this CD because it looked good, but I found that I LOVE it! My daughters (2 and 5) ask to listen to it over and over. It is soothing, relaxing and fun to listen to. I keep it in the car and it has been great on long car trips. It sounds like a classical music CD, as it is, but the songs are all nursery rhymes. I highly recommend it. It would make a great baby shower gift!

As the professional music arranger involved in the production of this album, you would expect me to have a high opinion of it - and I have.

However, having declared an interest, I would like to say that the performances of my arrangements by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the senior chorus and soloists from The Arts Educational School, Tring, are exceptionally good and exciting, and really bring my arrangements to life in every way.

I was commissioned by the record company to write new arrangements of traditional Nursery Rhymes in ways which would serve as a kind of "Young Person's Guide To The Orchestra", and be entertaining first, and then if possible educational as well, and ideally to appeal to all age groups - not merely young children, but older children and adults too. I hope that I have managed to do this succesfully by approaching the task as if I were writing for an animated film in each case; to tell the story involved in the song as a musical picture. I grew up with the wonderful use of music in cartoons such as "Bugs Bunny" and "Tom and Jerry", so this kind of treatment of musical material is part of my heritage and seemed appropriate here. I tried to include some witty cross-cultural references to make them enjoyable at all levels - traditional tunes they are, "baby-ish" they're not!

I hope people have a listen and enjoy what we have achieved with this album - and ideally, buy it!