ALICE COOPER On Peter And The Wolf And Classical Composers - “They Were The Rock Stars Of Their Time... But I Think They Would Have Been A Lot Crazier Than We Were”
November 4, 2015, 9 years ago
Peter And The Wolf In Hollywood, narrated by Alice Cooper, a brand new DG recording of Prokofiev's children’s classic, Peter And The Wolf – now coupled for the first time with a specially-written prequel (pre-story) will be released on November 13th via Deutsche Grammophon.
“These classical writers were insane, when you think of how crazy they were,” Alice tells TheGuardian.com in a new interview on the upcoming release. “These guys were out of their minds. They were just eaten by this music, they were mentally insane over it. They were the rock stars of their time. But I think they would have been a lot crazier than we were.”
Read more at TheGuardian.com.
The concept developed by the New York production company Giants Are Small extends for the first time ever the Peter And The Wolf we all know by a 30min prequel with the full blessing of the Prokofiev Foundation to a one hour piece of family entertainment
The best-loved story is now placed in an urban contemporary setting – Los Angeles – with a thrilling plot full of suspense and humour. The imaginative pre-story places Peter And The Wolf in Hollywood, whilst weaving together excerpts from some of the greatest symphonic masterpieces by Wagner, Mahler, Elgar, Puccini, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Schumann, Satie, Zemlinsky, Grieg, Smetana.
The story in a nutshell: Young, orphaned Peter comes to live with his “hippy” grandfather in LA and is having the time of his life; suddenly, this special trip is interrupted by a Fox News “breaking news” bulletin: A Wolf Has Escaped From The Zoo!
A tumultuous series of events involving Peter, his Grandfather, the duck, a cat, a little bird, the police and insatiable paparazzi (as the “hunters”), and of course the Wolf, lead us directly into the famous original story by Prokofiev: “And so Peter opened the gate and went out into the big green garden ...”
By discovering the hero in himself Peter captures the beast and becomes Hollywood’s unintended celebrity. Performed by Germany's National Youth Orchestra, and under the baton of excellent, young conductor Alexander Shelley, this is a fresh, energetic and extremely powerful interpretation made for the young and the young at heart.
Alexander Shelley has recently been named the Music Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, 2015/16 being his first season at the helm.
Trailer:
