Maestro Classics 10 CD Collection

Most of these cd's start out with the story, accompanied either by a classical artist or by the composer/orchestra conductor in the series. His original compositions are classical in nature. The point is, as in past reviews on similar cd's, to create vision within a child's mind as he/she listen's to music----any music----and to build a musical imagination and discover and recognize the emotions it evokes. So the layout of most of the cd's is to first tell the story, often a very familiar one, followed by a short historical (and interesting) historical account to the music/and or story. Then the composer/conductor explains the nuances of the music itself: "How do you see a rabbit----what do you think of? He's hopping this way and that, right? " Then he illustrates the part of the music that is slightly irregular in tempo and over-all lighthearted. He uses flutes and fife's to illustrate birds and butterflies; Bass and Tubas to illustrate the slow lumbering tortoise; a composition of his own that is very reminiscent of France for a little cafe scene in the story. THEN they replay the story so the child can look for the music that accompanies the various scenes and animals. I thought telling the story twice was too much so tried doing the history and music development first, followed by the story. But the kids were impatient to get to the story, so I kept it as it was set up. I gave them the option to hear the story again. Sometimes they want to, sometimes they don't. I find myself telling them throughout the story to listen for the sound of a bird, or a tortoise, etc. It is actually a great set and would be useful for many age groups just for musical illustration. The kids really respond to this method of learning music. Now when my grandkids are pounding out their music practice on their stringed instruments or the piano, I can say, "Make me see the sad parts or the happy parts and they know exactly what I mean. I've seen an improvement in the way they're adding feeling and emotion to their pieces instead of slogging through another practice session.

I bought this in January of 2016 (for $86) for my children who are now 7, 5, and 2. I like CDs since that easily makes car time educational. I also have a Bluetooth enabled CD player in my kid's room where they can freely choose audio books to enjoy. We haven't made it through the entire collection actually, but I'm reviewing anyway because we just what we've listened to makes this worth it. My kids want to re-listen to their favorites, which is excellent, since repetition fosters memory and mastery. The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Peter the Wolf are currently enjoying the top spot and even my toddler demands the music and is memorizing it. (Juanita, La Langosta Espanola is completely in Spanish, narration and all for my copy, just so you're aware.)The cd typically starts out with an introduction by the narrator and then the story or narration begins. Jim Weiss is the storyteller for The Nutcracker, and he describes the dancing and what the characters look like (I think that alone would be really nice for someone visually impaired). After the talking version of the musical piece there is usually a story about the composer's life, or some other interesting tidbits related to the history of the music or understanding how the music or individual instruments can express a character and come together to tell the story. Then just the music plays and the kids can recall the story themselves while hearing the music. Even though the price is up to $95, that is still an outstanding deal for a 12 cd collection that we can enjoy and re-listen to for years to come, and will be re-enjoyed by my 4th. This is at the top of my list to be a generous classroom gift, and Christmas gift.

This is an interesting varied collection of music for children from the ages of 3 to mid to upper primary school with age recommendations given for each CD. Only a few weeks after purchasing the collection, we have listened to only 2-3 of them with our 4 year old grandchild. Peter and the Wolf is well done, however the narrative accompanying the Carnival of the Animals is largely overworked and in places the language and references are quite dated and perhaps never were appropriate for the target age range. The Tortoise and the Hare has also been produced as a rather lengthy story with some rather difficult French accents at times for young listeners, but generally it hits the mark musically and in the narrative. Each CD has supplementary information about the composer and the music/instruments used in the main themes, the origin of the work, eg. Aesop's original fable of the Tortoise and the Hare. These sections are very well done and interesting and add a lot to one's understanding and enjoyment of the work, for adult and child. The whole collection is likely to provide years of enjoyment and pleasurable learning. The sound quality of the CDs is excellent.

Great collection of high quality music and storytelling for children.

I like these, I do, but I bought them for the under-5 set. If you are, too, be forewarned: characters die. Left and right. People, animals, murder, suicide, judicial execution, it's all here. I wanted to introduce my kids to double reeds, not capital punishment. If you've got little ones, order these a la carte and stick to The Tortoise and the Hare, Mike Mulligan, Casey at Bat, and the other tame recordings. Perhaps I am to blame, it's not like I don't know what happens at the end of Swan Lake, but I somehow thought these might be sanitized. Nope, they are true to the stories, which is a virtue for older kids, I suppose. The CDs are otherwise great for long commutes and The Nutcracker is my kids' favorite any time of year (they particularly love when the Mouse King gets killed...)

I can' say enough good about these CD's. I love to listen to them and they are really for all ages! You won't regret buying these. I download them to my computer and keep a few in the car. I enjoy the narration a lot.