Sunday Classics: The fraught world of kiddie classics -- Prokofiev's "Peter," Saint-Saëns' "Carnival," Britten's "Young Person's Guide"

It's audio only, but a treat: Boris Karloff narrates the first half of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, with Mario Rossi conducting the Vienna State Opera Orchestra. (The poster is confused about the recording's provenance. Since it's audibly stereophonic, it's unlikely that it was recorded in the '40s, or "appeared originally as a 78 rpm single from Mercury's 'Childcraft' label." Vanguard made this recording in May 1957.) The second half of the performance is here.

by Ken

"Patronizing" is as as close as I can get to the word I'm groping for here. I'm wishing adults didn't have such a kitschy, retarded idea of music they think will appeal to kids -- and really, I'm thinking of bygone times when large numbers of adults actually knew something about the music and cared enough to attempt to inflict it on their offspring.

I think I mentioned here once that, Leonard Bernstein explained to his audience in his Young People's Concert devoted to Mahler that friends of his were horrified to learn than he planned to include a chunk of the extremely serious, even dour, seemingly ultra-kid-unfriendly Ninth Symphony. Lenny had insisted the kids would be fine with it, and as the video record shows, they loved it.

As I mentioned in last night's preview, I hated Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel, and had to claw my way to what now seems to me an extravagantly beautiful opera. Luckily, I didn't often have "kiddie" music thrust at me, and instead was left mostly to find my own way to the music I came to love.

Today, as I suggested, we're focusing on the three great works that set out to introduce listeners to the instruments of the orchestra: Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals, and Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. When they're inflicted on young people, it's not the music itself that bothers me, of course, because this is all utterly extraordinary music, but -- how do I say this? -- the unthinkingly closed-minded, talk-down-ish way it's presented. "Patronizing" is as close as I can get in a single word.

* * *

PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67

We're going to take our time with Peter, and actually listen to it both section-by-section with narration and then in one fell swoop, or rather three fell swoops, twice with narration (in English and Spanish; the narration, of course, has been translated into the language of every place where the piece has been performed) and then without narration. I think this illustrates a built-in problem with this music: The narration can quickly become deeply annoying, but the music, while quite lovely, really doesn't have any particular sense without it.

1. Introduction

2. Early One Morning (The Meadow)

3. Look Out!

4. Peter's Theme; Grandfather's Theme

5. The Wolf Appears

6. The Balance of Nature

7. Peter's Plan

8. The Hunters Come Out of the Woods

9. The Triumphant Procession


As promised, here's the whole thing put together, in two versions, musically identical but with the late Jose Ferrer narrating first in English and then in Spanish. Ferrer, of course, had one of the most remarkable speaking voices in the annals of the English language -- and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess in Spanish as well. (I think you'll notice an intriguing personality shift as he moves between languages.)

PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67 (in English)
Jose Ferrer, narrator; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Sir Eugene Goossens, cond. Kapp/MCA, recorded 1959

PROKOFIEV: Pedro y el Lobo, Op. 67 (en español)
Jose Ferrer, narrator; Vienna State Opera Orchestra, Sir Eugene Goossens, cond. Kapp/MCA, recorded 1959

Now, again as promised, here's the music without the narration, from Sony's "Royal Edition." The original recording was made to be filled out with Maestro Bernstein's own narration, and in its original form the old LP coupling with Lenny's Carnival of the Animals can still be had on CD.

PROKOFIEV: Peter and the Wolf, Op. 67: Suite
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Feb. 16, 1960

It seems as if most everyone who can talk has narrated a recording of Peter and the Wolf. Among the versions you can download are one from Everest narrated by Captain Kangaroo, with Leopold Stokowski conducting the New York Stadium Symphony, and, yes, the Vanguard one narrated by Boris Karloff we sampled above, with Mario Rossi conducting the Vienna State Opera Orchestra.

* * *

SAINT-SAËNS: Carnival of the Animals

In the LP era Peter and the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals were frequent (I'm tempted to say "almost invariable") disc-mates, but in fact they're really not aimed at the same audience. Amazon comments are unusually interesting here -- judging from the adult accounts, their kids go for Peter but are kind of stumped by Carnival.

The latter is, in its childlike way, a pretty sophisticated piece with its often surprising and sardonic musical characterizations and its network of musical quotations. (I expect you recognized the "Dance of the Sylphs" from Berlioz' Damnation of Faust last night when we heard "The Elephant.") In addition, in the English-speaking world, the Ogden Nash verses often used for narration (written for the André Kostelanetz recording narrated by Noël Coward), for all their deft drollerie, don't seem to me especially kid-friendly at all. Here, for example, are Nash's "Introduction" and the poems for the two movements we heard last night, "The Elephant" and "The Swan."

Introduction

Camille Saint-Saëns 

Was wracked with pains,

When people addressed him
As Saint-"Sains."


He held the human race to blame, 

Because it could not pronounce his name. 

So he turned with metronome and fife,

To glorify other kinds of life. 


Be quiet, please -- for here begins

His salute to feathers, fur, and fins.

No. 5, The Elephant

Elephants are useful friends, 

Equipped with handles at both ends.

They have a wrinkled moth-proof hide. 

Their teeth are upside down, outside.


If you think the elephant preposterous, 

You’ve probably never seen a rhinosterous.

Gary Karr, double bass; Marielle Labèque, piano. BMG, recorded December 1996

No. 13, The Swan

The swan can swim while sitting down.

For pure conceit he takes the crown.

He looks in the mirror over and ove-a,

And claims to have never heard of Pavlova.

[Note: Now just how many kids do you suppose are going to get a reference to Pavlova? -- Ed.]

Gary Karr, double bass; Ruth and Naomi Segal, pianos; (New York Philharmonic,) Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Apr. 9, 1962
Misha Maisky, cello; Katia and Marielle Labèque, pianos. Teldec, recorded December 1996
Pablo Casals, cello; Charles A. Baker, piano. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Jan. 24, 1915

On CD, Peter and Carnival are often joined by the next-best-known "young person's guide to the orchestra," Brittten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, more formally known as the Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell. As far as I can tell, I don't have a single narrated version of either the Saint-Saëns or the Britten on CD. So here they are in purely orchestral form. Actually, in the case of Saint-Saëns'Carnival, we hear it once in orchestral form and then in chamber form, with the string parts played one player to a part. (There is, by the way, a lovely score downloadable free in PDF form.)

SAINT-SAËNS: Carnival of the Animals

1. Introduction and Royal March of the Lion
(two pianos, strings [two violins, viola, cello, bass])
Andante maestoso; Allegro non troppo; Piu allegro, 4/4
2. Hens and Roosters
(clarinet, two pianos, two violins, viola)
Allegro moderato, 4/4
3. Wild asses (Swift animals)
(two pianos)
Presto furioso, 4/4
4. Tortoises
(1st piano, strings)
Andante maestoso, 4/4
5. The Elephant
(2nd piano, double bass)
Allegretto pomposo, 3/8
6. Kangaroos
(two pianos)
Moderato, 4/4-3/4
7. Aquarium
(flute, harmonica, two pianos, strings except bass [muted])
Andantino, 4/4
8. Personages with long ears
(two violins)
Tempo ad lib., 3/4
9. The Cuckoo in the depth of the woods
(clarinet, two pianos [with una corda pedal])
Andante, 3/4
10. Aviary
(flute, two pianos, strings)
Moderato grazioso, 3/4
11. Pianists
(two pianos with strings)
Allegro moderato [editors' note: "The players should imitate the playing of a beginner and his awkwardness"], 4/4
12. Fossils
(clarinet, xylophone, two pianos, strings)
Allegro ridicolo, 2/2
13. The Swan
(cello, two pianos)
Andantino grazioso, 6/4
14. Finale
(flute, clarinet, harmonica, xylophone, two pianos, strings)
Molto allegro, 4/4

Ruth and Naomi Segal, pianos; New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Columbia/CBS/Sony, recorded Apr. 9, 1962
Benoît Fromanger, flute; Richard Stoltzman, clarinet; Lily Maisky and Misha Mullov, pianos (in "Pianists"); Evelyn Glennie, percussion; Katia and Marielle Labèque, pianos; Viktoria Mullova and Alexej Nagovitsyn, violins; Yuri Bashmet, viola; Misha Maisky, cello; Gary Karr, double bass. BMG, recorded December 1996

* * *

BRITTEN: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
(Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell), Op. 34

Not-quqite-yet-sir Malcolm Sargent narrated and conducted the London Symphony in Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra in the film Instruments of the Orchestra. Sargent conducted the Liverpool Philharmonic in the work's concert (and broadcast) premiere on Oct. 14, 1946. We hear the recording they made below.

The Young Person's Guide was written in 1945-46 (right after the opera Peter Grimes) on commission of the British Ministry of Education for a film called Instruments of the Orchestra, with narration written by writer-director Eric Crozier, who had staged the Sadler's Wells premiere of Peter Grimes and would write the libretto for Britten's Albert Herring and cowrite (with with E. M. Forster) that for Billy Budd. As noted above, the premiere was given in Liverpool on Oct. 15, 1946, by Malcolm Sargent (1946 was the year before he was knighted) and the Liverpool Philharmonic, who then made the work's premiere recording, which we hear below.

You can find a breakdown of the music here. The general plan of the variations could hardly be simpler or more straightforward, though the actual music is hardly either. After sequentially spotlighting the choirs of the orchestra in the opening statement of the theme, Britten works his way through them, in each case working from the top down:

* woodwinds (Variations A through D -- piccolo and flute [Presto], oboes [Lento], clarinets [Moderato], and bassoons [Allegro alla marcia]);

* strings (E through H -- violins [Brillante: alla polacca], violas [Meno mosso], cellos [no tempo marking], and basses [Cominciando lento ma poco a poco accel. al Allegro, "Beginning Lento but little by little accelerating to Allegro"]);

* harp (I [Maestoso]);

* brasses (J through L -- horns [L'istesso tempo], trumpets [Vivace], and trombones and tuba [Allegro pomposo]); and finally --

* percussion (M [Moderato] -- timpani, bass drum and cymbals, tambourine and triangle, snare drum and wood block, xylophone, castanets and gong, whip, all percussion) --

at which point he's ready to unleash the fugue.

Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Malcolm Sargent, cond. EMI/Membran, recorded 1946
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Davis, cond. Teldec, recorded October 1990

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