Who composed carnival of the animals
This is a lovely version of The Carnival of the Animals as illustrated brilliantly by Mary GrandPré. I absolutely must have a copy of this for my collection, if only for the haunting and mysterious "Aquarium," which was surely "borrowed" for part of the soundtrack of the movie "Poltergeist." Highly recommended! The addition of the poems and illustrations will certainly reinforce the lessons the music provides. A note at the back of the book states that Saint-Saens intended this piece to introduce children to the orchestra, which is does quite well. And third, the music itself, which not only associates certain musical instruments with particular animals, but also introduces listeners to instruments of the orchestra and how they work together. I especially like the picture of the mother cuckoo, with a purse slung over one leg, the aquarium of fish with the cat peering in, eyes enlarged by the water, and the donkeys braying loudly while the moon winces and cracks. First, the clever, humorous poems by Prelutsky, my favorites of which are "Fossils" and "Aquarium." Second, the illustrations by Mary GrandPre, with those humorous little touches. The Carnival of the Animals is delightful on several levels. On the CD he reads the poems followed by the music that describes each animal, and then the entire composition is played without the poems. Jack Prelutsky wrote poems to accompany all the animals portrayed in Camille Saint-Saens' classical piece, "The Carnival of the Animals".
I had never listened to this classical piece until I read this book, which came with a CD. He loved the music and the Kangaroos were his favorite. The nephew liked this story too with the music. I think the music helps get people feeling more. I am quite happy to pass this on to the kids. I don’t know if it helped them calm down for sleep, but we read something else after this to settle them again. The verse along with the music and the pleased the kids. Jack came up with the verses of poetry and they are fun. There is a scene where there are birds everywhere and if you look at them, all over their bodies and wings are music notes. Mary GrandPre is the woman who did the artwork for the original Harry Potter books as a reminder. The artwork is filled with energy and color and I do love it. They loved the finale and we danced and danced to that one. The next day they wanted to listen to the entire thing.
We only needed a song or two while we read it. So, while we were reading the story we put the music on. A CD of Camille’s music is included here to play.