MJ
Paul Daneman was a rather fine but not particularly 'starry' actor who died a few years ago. He was in things like The Saint, The Professionals and Blake's 7 on TV as well as in some well-known films like Zulu. He was the father of the soprano, Sophie Daneman.

I've got a boxed set of Prokofiev recordings (about 25 CDs) and Peter and the Wolf appears four times - in Spanish, English, French and German; it's the same recorded music (conducted by Ngano, nothing special) but different narrators. Obviously it's so that the set can be sold around Europe.  Anyway, the French narrator (whom I cannot remember and I'm too tired to look) is the most animated of them all, making the English one sound a little dull. (Oh soddit, I'm going to look... ...right, I'm back. Thanks for waiting: the Frenchie is Jaques Martin and the English one is Patrick Stewart, he of Star Trek.

Is there a Russian version around, in the name of authenticity? Or how about a recording with no narration at all, seeing as the Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra seems to be played mostly with no commentary these days? I know it wouldn't make sense for children but for those of us who already know how it goes...

Bernstein and no narration? I'm surprised he managed to keep his mouth shut! 

O.K., I have just checked my own shelves. As far as commercial recordings are concerned, apart from the Lenny Henry I also have (in historical order), Ralph Richardson/Malcolm Sargent, Peter Barkworth/Nicholas Cleobury, and David Attenborough/Yan Pascal Tortelier (a BBC Music Magazine cover disc).

Thanks MrYorick. Can't listen right now but I'll try to soon - and it might be entertaining for the children to hear once they're familiar with the English version - after all, part of French teaching for the Y3s is to have them listening to native French speakers.


Ooo that's jogged my memory - I had that David Attenborough CD a couple of years ago (from a charity shop) but someone at school borrowed it and I haven't seen it since...  Hmmm - can't think who it was but maybe it's worth putting a WANTED notice up in the staffroom!

I had an abridged version narrated by Alvar Liddell which came free if you sent in several Ribena labels... It was one of those bendy 7" discs that were issued in the late 60s/early 70s. Presumably it was abridged from a pre-existing recording?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had an abridged version narrated by Alvar Liddell which came free if you sent in several Ribena labels... It was one of those bendy 7" discs that were issued in the late 60s/early 70s. Presumably it was abridged from a pre-existing recording.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alvar Lidell made one or two of these shortly after retiring from the BBC in 1969.  I once received a promotional one in which he enthused about the Big Band Sound as a prelude to trying to get us to buy some related record.  I didn't.

Ian.

I can't do the final chapter of 'The House at Pooh Corner' any more, when CR goes way to school, leaving Pooh behind...I had an absolutely brilliant bunch of Yr 4/5/6s a few years ago and, on the final day of the year, as the Yr 6's realised that this was it, the end, they asked for a final story, so I picked this one. Every time I looked up from the page, it was to see one of the girls sitting before me, with tears silently streaming down her face..."But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his bear will always be playing."  

Back to Peter, I can add my recommendation for the Abbado/Sting/Spitting Image puppet DVD version - Sting gets the narration just right and the puppets add plenty of humour.