Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf; Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals

1	Peter and the Wolf, child
2	Carnival of the Animals,
3	Carnival of the Animals,
4	Carnival of the Animals,
5	Carnival of the Animals,
6	Carnival of the Animals,
7	Carnival of the Animals,
8	Carnival of the Animals,
9	Carnival of the Animals,
10	Carnival of the Animals,
11	Carnival of the Animals,
12	Carnival of the Animals,
13	Carnival of the Animals,
14	Carnival of the Animals,
15	Carnival of the Animals,
16	Carnival of the Animals,
17	Serenade No. 13 for strin
18	Serenade No. 13 for strin
19	Serenade No. 13 for strin
20	Serenade No. 13 for strin
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf; Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals
1.	Peter and the Wolf, children's tale for narrator & orchestra, Op. 67 28:29
	Composed by Sergey Prokofiev
	Performed by John Gielgud and London Academy
	Conducted by Richard Stamp
2.	Carnival of the Animals, zoological fantasy for 2 pianos & ensemble 22:08
	Composed by Camille Saint-Saëns
	Performed by Robert Bailey, Paul Davies, Anton Nel, Stephen Williams, London Academy and Keith Snell
	Conducted by Richard Stamp
3.	Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major ("Eine kleine Nachtmusik"), K. 525 16:21
	Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
	Conducted by Richard Stamp
	Performed by London Academy

All Music Guide

If this disc were to fall into your hands, worse things could happen than that you should listen to it. True, you have to be in the mood for what once were described as "light classics": Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf," Saint-Saëns' "Carnival of the Animals," and Mozart's "Eine kleine Nachtmusik." And true, you have to be willing to settle for less than absolutely the best performances. This is not to say that the performances aren't quite fine in their own ways. Richard Stamp leads the London Academy in completely acceptable and on occasion even elegant performances. Nor is this to say that John Gielgud is not a rich, plumy, and slightly ironic narrator or that the duo piano team of Anton Nel and Keith Snell is not light, tight, and dazzlingly bright: they all are in their own ways. But it is to say that, down through the years, these three "light classics" have received innumerable recordings and many of them have been as good or better than this one. For the best Prokofiev, Claudio Abbado's sharply edgy recording with Sting or Kent Nagano's post-modernist recording with Patrick Stewart or Leopold Stokowski's wholly sincere recording with Captain Kangaroo. For the best Saint-Saëns, try Charles Dutoit's chicly stylish recording with Pascal Rogé and Cristina Ortiz or the sweetly Gallic Philippe Entremont recording and Gaby Casadesus or John Barbirolli's supremely sensual recording with Walter Landauer and Marjan Rawicz. For the best Mozart, try the suavely sophisticated Karl Böhm with the Vienna Philharmonic or the sublimely lyrical Bruno Walter or the Wilhelm Furtwängler's transcendently profound recording with the Berlin Philharmonic. This disc is more than adequate, but nothing special, and the competition is unbeatable. Virgin's 1989 sound is clear, but not especially vivid. James Leonard