Search - Sergey Prokofiev, Mário Rossi, Wiener Staatsopernorchester :: Prokofiev: Peter & the Wolf

Definitive Version

Brooklyn Music Lover | Brooklyn, NY United States | 09/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Glad to see that this is back in print. As a little boy, I had the record (unfortunately misplaced) and played it until the grooves were worn. Boris Karloff's narration and the Vienna Orchestra sound spectacular on this CD, though. Hopefully my five year old will love this album as much as I did."

Not all that

C. David Claris | Chapel Hill, NC | 02/15/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I love Boris Karloff, the voice is delicious, but his reading is rather uninspired, unimaginative and cautious-sounding, but not nearly so pedestrian as the conducting of Mario Rossi, who has at his disposal the highly capable Vienna State Opera orchestra (read, Vienna Philharmonic) who could play the pants off this piece even if left to their own devices, and not held back by the willful torpor of their baton-waiver. But alas, the performance simply drags along tediously, if such a thing is possible with this most delightful of musical stories. The Kije is merely a serviceable performance, too, of something that should effervesce. I regret not being more positive; the voice of Karloff should have been coupled with a more vital conductor. The recorded sound (from 1957) as typical of Seymour Solomon's audiophile work for Vanguard and other labels is superlative analog."

Prokofiev would be proud

JDW | Montverde, FL United States | 01/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It seems like performances of Peter and the Wolf number in the thousands but this is the best by far. I enjoyed this for years on an LP but it got lost in a move. Great to see it back."