Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf; Symphony No. 1, Op. 25; Saint-Saens: Carnival of the Animals

Advantages: A great diversity of famous works
Disadvantages: Not everything is perfect

...from Carmina Burana HOLST: Mars from The Planets, Op.32 WAGNER: The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre VERDI: Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco COPLAND: Fanfare for the Common Man ELGAR: Pomp and Circumstance March no.1, Op.39/1 (exc.) VERDI: Grand March from Aida VIVALDI: Presto from Summer of The Four Seasons, Op.8 CHARPENTIER: Prelude from Te Deum BRITTEN: Theme from The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op.35 J.S. BACH: Toccata from Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 BEETHOVEN: 1st mvt from Symphony no.5 in C minor, Op.67 KHACHATURIAN: Adagio from Spartacus, Op.82 (exc.) KHACHATURIAN: Sabre Dance from Gayaneh, Op.50 MOZART: 1st mvt from Symphony no.40 in G minor, K.550 HÄNDEL: Zadok the Priest PUCCINI: Nessun Dorma from Turandot CD 2 R. STRAUSS: Opening from Also Sprach Zarathustra, Op.30 PROKOFIEV: Dance... Read review

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Advantages: Every tune's a winner
Disadvantages: Nothing new

...style. The modern composers on these CDs do fit in with the overall premise that the music has to be Easy on the Ear. You will not be shocked, or offended by any of the material on this album. So the content- what's on it will not surprise you. In fact, I bet you can probably guess quite a lot of the tracks. If you know any of the above composers, try to think of their most famous or definitive work, before you read on. Perhaps you can't remember the names (symphony no. something or other is never easy to recall). Don't worry, your guess will almost certainly be right. I won't list every track, you can find a list at the bottom of the category page, but here are some of the more predictable ones: Vivaldi- The 4 seasons (summer) Saint-Saens- Carnival of the Animals Holst- The Planets (Mars) Rimsky-Korsakov- Flight of the Bumblebee... Read review

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Advantages: Useful for helping to teach yung children about musical instruments
Disadvantages: The story is a little bit grown up for some of the younger audiences.

...Sergei Prokofiev is a fantastic composer and this is one of his best works. Peter and the Wolf is a story about how a child disobeys his gandfathers advice, and has a rather scary encounter with a wolf. He is saved by some huntsmen and the story ends happily. Each of the characters has its own representative instrument from the orchestra. Peter, a young boy is represented by the strings, who have lots of tunes with excellent harmonies. Peter's grandfather, whom Peter ignores, is played by the bassoons, a personal favourite of mine as i myself play one. I think that the bassoon has been chosen to play the grand father because it has a sense of age, and, being a bass instrument, has a sense of authority and towards the end sternness for the disobedience of Peter. Throughout the tale there are animals. The cat is played by the clarinets... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful