Preschoolers will love this I bought this CD for my almost four year old and he thinks it's great. He is able to recognise the different melodies and instruments as the characters in the story (i.e. "that's the grandfather"). He's not so into the other music afterwards, as it doesn't have a story that goes with it - he wants more of Peter and the Wolf. I thought it was mildly disturbing that the story ends with the duck alive inside the wolf, but my little man just accepted this was the end of the story.
This CD will take you right back to your childhood! I bought this for my 3 y/o grandson hoping to help him learn about the orchestra. It turns out we are both learning and enjoying it equally.
Peter and the Wolf purchased this cd for my grand children. I will play it for them on my next visit with them. I listened to it and it was very good.
This one's not just for children I love "Peter and the Wolf" and am far from being a child and so I was looking for a recording that would cater to adults. I found it in this one. On the plus side you can skip the introduction to the orchestral instruments, which most adults who know this piece don't need. The playing of the Philadelphia Orchestra is lush and sounds like the players are really enjoying themselves and dedicated to nuances of the music. Ormandy's tempos are spot-on and he has gotten his players to keep the piece moving along lightly, even during the more dramatic moments and his direction really pushes (for lack of a better word) the orchestra to really convey the story, working with the narrator rather than leaving him/her with a musical interpretation that doesn't match the narrator's style of telling the story. David Bowie provides a great narration and sounds as though he has really prepared himself by studying the story and so his story-telling is never sing-song and cloying, but interesting, catching your ear with subtle variations in his pacing and knowledge of how the words and music ultimately support each other emotionally. He is not cloying or "dumbing-down" in his narration and really surprised me with his abilities. The CD is well-engineered and never "muddy" sounding. You hear each part clearly and without voice overpowering the orchestra or vice-versa. A great interpretation. "Carnival of the Animals" is missing its narration and that' okay bcause the playing is expressive enough that you can imagine each animal. On the downside (boy this is getting long) is "The Young Perrson's Guide to the Orchestra. Boring! Well-played but it all sounds the same even though each orchestra section being described should have a distinct variation on the central theme, which it dosn't. I never have liked it, though so I'm biaed here. It is executed as well as it can be. This is a good investment for kids and adults.
My kids love this! I remember this from when I was a child and I'm so happy to be able to share it with my own children. They absolutely love this: in the car, at home, to fall asleep to. The music is just as phenomenal as I remember it and my kids love identifying the different instruments!
Anything Goes Trivia
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