Narrated classical music?

[melissel]

We have a narrated Peter and the Wolf CD that DD5 loves, and I'm wondering if there are other CDs that have this. This CD was the first time I'd ever heard such a thing, and it helped my own enjoyment a lot as well! Any other suggestions, or is Peter and the Wolf unique?

TIA!

[King Alfred Academy]

My ds 4 & 7 LOVE listening to these. Some of the titles include Beethoven Lives upstairs, Mr. Bach comes to call, and others. It narrates a story from their life and then plays their music in the background. Fantastic!

[Kristiana]

We had a library cd a while back with Peter and the Wolf, Carnival of the Animals, and Benjamin Britten's A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra that you would probably like.

Also check out Classics for Kids (http://www.classicsforkids.com/index.asp). They have archived radio programs (about 6 min. long) with narration and activity sheets to go along for a lot of different composers and pieces.

[Jen in NY]

Peter and the Wolf is fairly unique in that it was originally written as a piece of program music with words, just as you heard it. I can think of only one other piece like that just off the top of my head (although I am sure there are many more!) and that's Copland's Lincoln Portrait. It uses Lincoln's own words from speeches set with very inspiring music. The Classical Kids CD's are cute and my kids enjoy them, but aren't the music as it was originally written.

Some works (mostly program music - which is music written purposely to evoke "extra-musical" images) that my kids have enjoyed over the years:


Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky/Ravel)
Symphonie Fantastique (Berlioz)
Night on Bald Mountain (spooky! Rimsy-Korsakov)
Sorcerer's Apprentice (Dukas)
Symphony 6 "Pastoral" (Beethoven)

Oh, and more Copland - so "American" .... Appalachian Spring, Rodeo, Common Man.....

All of these would be a good next step after you get your kids hooked with those "Classical Kids" CD's ;o)


Just thinking about it makes me want to blast "Fanfare for the Common Man" right now and get these late sleepers up with some class this morning!

[Canada_Mom]

Here is a link (http://www.classicalmagic.net/index.html) to a music program that takes classical songs and adds lyrics to them for children. The idea is that children learn music better with words.

There are samples on the site. I have not ordered the program myself, though if I had some extra $$ right now I think I would.

I'm not sure if this is at all what you were looking for but it seemed interesting enough to share...