Audio CD: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

"Britten takes a tune from one of his musical forebears, Henry Purcell – it’s a simple tune that was written in about 1690 – and writes a series of orchestral variations on this piece and hands out those separate variations to different sections of the orchestra to play as a means of introducing individual section of the orchestra. I’d say this piece is ideal for listeners of about 9 upwards. It a springboard for further listening. It’s such a pompous buttoned-up title from another age. Which could be off-putting – especially if you look at the original film with Sir Malcolm Sargent introducing each piece – it’s really dated. But if you take that out of the equation this is an incredible piece of music. It’s a simple idea and if it hadn’t been done by a genius like Britten it would have fallen flat on its face. Britten did amazing things with that simple tune. He made it entertaining and vigorous and incredibly engaging. If you imagine a drone camera flying around and honing-in really closely on different parts of the orchestra as you listen to it. Rachel : That’s a great idea! Essentially, it’s a brilliant piece of music. Get The Children’s Book of Music out in front of you (and our book!) and hear – in quite a compact period of time – what all those instrumental sections sound like. You really can’t do any better than listen to the Britten. Meurig : When the Purcell tune comes back at the end it is just a glorious moment. I always turn the hi-fi up to maximum and just bathe in that. Rachel : For under 9s, we would recommend Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf , for a similar experience. Meurig: The holy trinity of orchestral music for children is the Britten, Saint Saens’s Le Carnaval des Animaux and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf . These pieces have just never been bettered yet. Rachel: In Peter and the Wolf , Prokofiev attached particular instruments and musical motifs to individual characters and animals. It’s pictorial music for children. Meurig : I’m not sure enough children are hearing these amazing pieces in their primary schools today – so I hope that recommending them here will be a way of getting these pieces into their heads and their imaginations. FROM SPOTIFY:"