Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

    There are about as many recorded versions of "Peter and the Wolf" as
    there are people to narrate it.  I grew up with one narrated by Captain
    Kangaroo (Bob Keeshan).  There's one on cd narrated by David Bowie
    that's quite good, and I think there are a few others on cd, but I
    don't remember the narrators.   I don't remember ever seeing the Disney
    one.

    I have one where the narrator is Yitzak Perlman.  I don't know that
    he is a particularly good choice with his accent and all, but it
    is the only disk I have of him rather than of his violin.
    
    				Paul
    

I too remember the Disney Sterling Holloway version quite well.  I don't 
think it's on CD.

The faraway best CD version I know of is apparently not available in the
US.  I had a friend get it for me from England, and it was worth every
outrageous penny of what it cost me. 

	Philips digital 412 559-2, by John Williams and the Boston Pops.
	Narrated by Terry Wogan.  Coupled with Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
	Suite.  (In the US, this same recording is narrated by Dudley
	Moore - they dubbed the narration for both versions - and is 
	Philips 412 556-2.)

The orchestral performance is stunning - you will be hearing the music 
with fresh ears.  Wogan's narration is refreshing - not too cutesy but 
put forth with charming good nature.

    I prefer the version on DGG 415.351-2 narrated by Hermione Gingold.
    The "other side" is Saint-Saens "Carnival of the Animals" with
    animal descriptions by Ogdan Nash.
    
    Others that I have are:

	Peter and the Wolf, Nar. Andre Previn
		Telarc CD-80126 (C)
    
	Peter and the Wolf, Nar. David Bowie
		RCA RCD1-2743 (C)
    
	Peter and the Wolf, Nar. Hermione Gingold
		DG 415.351-2 (C)
    
	Peter and the Wolf, Nar. Itzhak Perlman
		EMI CDC 7 47067 2 (C)
    

    
    
    I, too, grew up with Sterling Holloway's version, and have heard
    all the others mentioned, except the one by Wogan. The orchestration
    on the Disney version wasn't the best, but Holloway's narration
    has all the others beat hands down (my opinion..no flames please),
    simply because he was a great storyteller. 
    
    It could be just sentimentality (probably is), but I've passed this
    version on to my kids and my nieces. Same deal. Once you've been
    captured by that odd voice, no others will do. By the way, I had
    the 2 record 78rpm album, so I had to work while listening as a kid,
    so as not to lose continuity. Somehow the lp version doesn't sound
    right without Sterling saying "turn the record over" or "put on
    the next record, please."
    
    I haven't seen a cd version yet, but it's a matter of time, since
    much of the Disney library has converted.
    
    				| The Cruiser |
    
    

    
    I've seen the Williams/Pops/Moore version of Peter and the Wolf
    at Strawberries.
    
    My favorite version is Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic on
    Prokofiev's Greatest Hits.  No Narration.
    
    DFW

Re: .6

>    My favorite version is Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic on
>    Prokofiev's Greatest Hits.  No Narration.

That's *funny*!  Not that you should like the Bernstein version - I think 
it's pretty good.  But the "narrationless" aspect of it.  I have the LP 
on which that version was originally published.  It's coupled with the
Nutcracker Suite - did someone, somewhere, accidentally glue these two 
scores together?  :-)  Anyway, the Prokofiev *is* narrated on my LP - by 
Bernstein himself.

As for the "authenticity" of a narrationless version, I wonder.  I think 
Prokofiev wrote the work with the intention that it be narrated.

- Dick