Peter & The Wolf

[tomps]

I'd like to buy a Peter & the wolf CD and book giftset as a prezzie. Do you have one ? Could you recommend one ? Amazon have a video - is it any good ? Your advice greatly received as ever ...

There are loads of books available, but some 'tell the story', rather than provide the narration to the music IYSWIM ... we have a Ladybird book that does this.

We have a Virgin Classics CD narrated by Lenny Henry - he's great, and the kids love it BUT I wouldn't recommend it, as they don't use the original instruments, for some reason?! They use the sheng, tiple, serpent and oboe d'amore ... I should have read the CD sleeve more carefully in the shop.

Hope someone can recommend something else!? But bearing in mind these points might help you avoid pitfalls.

I found one, with illustrations by Bono, in aid of the Irish Hospice Fund (or something) but it doesn't use the proper instruments either - includes banjo and mandolin. Why do people have to mess with things?

We have the Naxos CD, which has the traditional orchestra setting but is narrated by Dame Edna Everage for some reason. Ds was a bit baffled to be addressed as "possums" but listens to it a lot.

Dannie, I spotted that one while googling, I was a bit surprised about Edna!

We have the video with Sting and the Spitting Image puppets. It's excellent and has more pieces on it than just Peter and the Wolf, but it's all an interwoven "story". We used to have the CD with David Bowie narrating, too, which was good... but I like David Bowie, so am biased.

thankyou for your help. Maybe I'll get a trad CD and a book of the story separately. On video, there's a 'toy symphony' version on amazon - anybody heard of that ?

JJ is the sting version full length ? - have seen what I remember as an exert on Clasicfmtv and loved it. If full length - or do I just remember it going on and on as a kid - please could you give more info on the video so I can find it - sorry to hijack

vkr, yes, it was full length and excellent. Unfortunately, I think it's out of print. The Amazon.co.uk listing is here . It's worth it if you can find it.