When I got home, and unwrapped the album, it was on green vinyl, furthering my suspicions. Much to my surprise, it was a charming, warm David's shifts voices eagerly between the exaggerated highs and lows of the various characters, and does justice to Prokofiev's timeless, memorable, nostalgic storybook of a piece.
'Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra', and Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker Suite'. Keep an open mind, and gorgeous melodies will delight you throughout.
For the freeload, tell us about your best friend when you were a teenager.
For the freeload, tell us about your best friend when you were a teenager.
I first discovered Peter & The Wolf as a child. Either had a Disney record or saw it on the Wonderful World of Disney TV show. The one narrated by Sterling Holloway. Then in the mid 70's searching at a record store, I found a copy of the prog rock version and bought that. Narrated by Viv Stanshall the players were: Gary Moore, Manfred Mann, Phil Collins, Percy Jones, Bill Bruford, Gary Brooker, Stephane Grappelli, Alvin Lee, Cozy Powell, Brian Eno, Jon Hiseman, John Goodsall, Chris Spedding, and more. It may be a bit dated now but back then I played the LP for anyone who would listen.
ReplyDeleteNow we have a Bowie version, an Alice Cooper version, and even Wendy Carlos & Weird Al (together) version, and a Henry Kaiser version. I'd say a lot of people were influenced by Peter and the Wolf.
of all those mentioned above, the David Bowie actually stays the closest to the original Prokofiev version with an orchestra actually playing the original music.
DeleteBut just for fun, on Harpers Bizarre 1967 album Feelin' Groovy, there is a song called Peter & The Wolf that actually plays the theme. I had several guitar playing friends that began playing Peter's Theme after hearing the prog version.
In high school, Peter, 2 years older and a photographer nerd. Introduced me to classical music (E. Power Biggs & Walter Carlos & more, of course), I made him listen to Black Sabbath & the like. Later in high school Sid, also older, weed smoking, loud rock & roll cruising pal. End of high school Jim, my age & another weed smoking pal, but with Jazz & Zappa. After high school, Reno, again, my age, a close friend that I moved to Santa Fe with later on. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeletemumbles, Walter & Wendy Carlos are the same person.
DeleteThanks SteVe, I know. When I began listening, she was a he. I had a vinyl copy of Switched On Bach from 1970 or so, credited to Walter Carlos. I apologize, I should refer to her as Wendy.
DeleteLink
ReplyDeletehttps://we.tl/t-M1DGyK0gqp
I'm partial to Beatrice Lillie's version with the London Symphony Orchestra. Her voice makes me smile.
ReplyDeleteSean Connery's version with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is fun because its Sean Connery.
I have this version, which I prized when I first got it. But I'd be surprised if I've listened to it since, which ... doesn't sound right. Perhaps I'm less fond of Prokofiev than I thought.
ReplyDeleteTwo of my best friends as a teen are people I'm still in touch with. One lives in my town and we're staying with the other in another part of CA today! All three of us were together last night with our spouses at our 50th high school class reunion. Good times, although there seemed to be general agreement among attendees that we didn't really think about being this old when we last were together, at graduation.
D in California
I also have a low bit rate version of Peter and the Wolf by narrator Jose' Ferrer. And one by Leonard Bernstein.
ReplyDeleteHad 2 friends Back then. One had asthma but when I discovered pot I had another friend. We would wear bell bottoms, walked around like R. Crumb's keep on truckin". The one friend that I smoked pot with, died of cancer. The other , whom I just reconnected with, now smokes pot and rides a Harley.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should get this. I don't have Nutcracker Suite.
ReplyDeleteGrew up next to a family whose father was a cop. They had several kids, including a son about my age. The 2 of us together with 3 other guys about the same age in the neighborhood used to hang together, but around the age of 14, I turned to sports and 3 of the 4 just started doing things that made me uncomfortable, so I cut ties with them. About 5 years later, those same 3 were arrested, tried and convicted for robbing a bank. Dumb asses used a bb gun, and their "defense" was that it was just a bad joke - but the robbery note said that they knew where the bank teller lived and they would kill all of her family if she did not comply (and, they actually did know where she lived - she was the neighbor on the other side of the house).
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of teenagers, quite a segue, no? Here's an article I found kinda interesting, maybe you will too, who knows?
ReplyDeletehttps://digg.com/stat-significant/link/when-do-we-stop-finding-new-music-analysis
Thanks Babs
OK, so I sent the link before I finished reading the article, sorry. I kinda think it leans towards BS, I could certainly be wrong.
DeleteA. I don't use spotify.
B. I try new to me stuff all the time.
3. I listen to old stuff and new stuff.
Thanks Babs
I had this back at the time. Three years earlier, there had been a version by Jack Lancaster & Robin Lumley with guest spots by Manfred Mann, Brian Eno, Cozy Powell, Phil Collins, Stephan Grapelli, Chris Spedding, Phil Collins.... Two Peter & the Wolf "rock" versions inside of three years....
ReplyDeleteBrian Eno is The Wolf. Stephane Grapelli is The Cat.
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DeleteRemoval by me...It printed it twice.
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