Serge Prokofiev was a Russian Composer who lived and composed in Leningrad and Paris in the first half of the twentieth century, he wrote many pieces of music, many of which were politically motivated or manipulated whichever way you want to look at it, some of which were used for the Russian film industry, however in the midst of the lead up to the second world war at a time when he was undertaking propaganda trips to the west he wrote and composed what can arguable be described as his most well loved music, in the form of a symphonic fairytale, Peter and the Wolf.
Even if you don’t know what it is when you hear it there are very few people who will not recognise the music to Peter and the Wolf. The original idea was to introduce children to the different instruments of the orchestra by way of relating them to the characters, for example a piccolo (small flute) plays the section to describe a bird and a base clarinet being the cat.
The story, for those of you who are not familiar with it, is briefly as follows: Peter lives with his grandfather in a small house next to a wood, in the wood there are various animals, a birdie, a duck (who are peters friends), a cat, some hunters and of course the wolf. The wolf is hungry and wants to catch the bird and/or the duck, the wolf is also being hunted by hunters. Peter is forbidden to go into the wood by his grandfather because of the wolf, and of course he disobeys, he then humanely catches the wolf and the story ends with Peters disobedience being rewarded by him triumphantly leading a parade of the wolf, followed by the hunters to the local zoo and Grandfather keeping a disgruntled silence. Fairly simple story and Great moral fable for kids!!
The music is usually performed by a full orchestra and the performance is recorded with a spoken narrative and the music playing either in the background or in the case of longer sections of music on its own. There have been many versions over the years, even one with David Bowie reading the narrative but the version I would like to bring to your attention now is a modern version that my daughter received for her birthday, and being 7 probably won’t appreciate it for another 20 years! This version is performed by Gavin Friday and the Friday-Seezer Ensemble. It comes in a beautiful Maroon coloured box and includes an audio CD and a Cloth bound book.
The greatest thing for me about the book is the illustrations, they have been created by Bono from U2 with his daughters Eve and Jordan. The designs are very modern and contemporary done in a pen and ink style. There is great attention to detail with giving all the characters their own personalities; The wolf in one picture has a target painted on his neck to make it easier for the hunters, Peter is a typical modern boy with shades and a T-Shirt saying ‘Baked Bean Boy’ which could almost be Bono himself and I have no idea what Bono was getting at with the introduction of the cat but the words of the narrative at this point are ‘a pussy-cat … she is smooth but greedy and vain’ the accompanying picture, to any 7 year old is a cat sat on a patch of grass with her arms crossed, but whichever way you look at it, it is a naked woman with a cats head and the grass is very conspicuous shading and no prize for guessing what the paws are!!!!
The music is naturally still that of Prokofiev, but rather than the usual full orchestra it is recorded by a very small ensemble led by Gavin Friday who also does the narration and has modern instruments such as keyboard and guitar, this gives a more contemporary feel to the well known melodies. The music follows the book wonderfully with the well known themes of Peter and the Cat being introduced at the beginning then variations coming in throughout the performance where the characters appear. The end of the story is the duck that the wolf had swallowed earlier is still alive in his stomach so you can her melodic theme coming through the rest of the music.
The book and CD have been prepared in aid of Hospice Care and all the funds raised are going to help the Irish Hospice Foundation it is currently available on Amazon for £10.49. Further details on this edition which is published by Bloomsbury are available from www.peterwolf.org where you can also order limited addition prints by Bono. It truly is a beautiful edition of this classic and it is almost worth hanging around at the back of a U2 concert to try and get it signed. I think it is a really great present, both my girls enjoy listening to the story and they will appreciate the book set in time.
Thank you for reading and I look forward to your comments.
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