Product Description

GENERAL FEATURES: Beethoven's Wig Sing Along Symphonies are zany stick-in-your-head lyrics set to the greatest hits of classical music. Filled with fact and fancy about the world's most notable composers and their masterpieces, each Sing Along Symphony opens the door to "serious music" in a way that's fun. As a bonus, the orchestral performance of each classical piece is included without lyrics. Educational entertainment for all ages.

Track Listing

1. Beethoven's Wig (5th Symphony, Beethoven)
2. Franz Liszt the Famous Pianist (Hungarian Rhapsody #2, Liszt)
3. Please Don't Play Your Violin at Night (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Mozart)
4. Can You Can Can? (Can Can, Offenbach)
5. Just For Elise (Fur Elise, Beethoven)
6. Haydn's Great Surprise (Surprise Symphony, Haydn)
7. Kings and Queens of England (Trumpet Tune, Purcell)
8. Drip, Drip, Drip (Pizzicato from Sylvia, Delibes)
9. Harmony (The Merry Peasant, Schumann)
10. Hey Guitar Teacher (Bouree, Bach)
11. Tchaikovsky's Cannonball (1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2796 in Music
• Brand: Rounder Kids
• Released on: 2002-03-05
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Inspired and wildly imaginative, Beethoven's Wig is one of the best introductions to classical music you could give to your children. Featuring snippets of 11 classical music staples--Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, et al.--the disc and its creators, Richard Perlmutter and friends, pour on the silly lyrics the first time around to familiarize young ears to the old masters. Then in the last half of the record, the orchestra plays the same "serious" music pieces instrumentally. You might cheerfully recall Alan Sherman's popular spoofs of old classical works in Wig and you'll again chuckle at pieces like "Drip, Drip, Drip," which adapts Delibes's "Pizzicato from Sylvia." You'll also marvel at the expertise throughout the CD, with all the pieces well played yet thoroughly fun. Beethoven's Wig is an orchestral treasure with a sense of humor as old or as new as its listeners (and the fun questions that run throughout the CD's liner notes are almost as entertaining as the zany musical interludes). Highly recommended. --Martin Keller

Customer Reviews

Teaching Kids to Love Classical Music
This is a great product. The kids love it. Some reviews have mentioned that the lead vocalist is not very melodic. However, I see this as a plus. He has a zany way of cracking his voice which is a hilarious complement to the other opera-class voices on the CD.
My kids seem to love the instrumental-only versions now that they associate these with the vocal versions.

Classical Kids
I bought this as a birthday gift for a little boy. My kids and I love this CD and like to give it as a gift for other families. It is so fun for the kids, but also it has helped me be able to identify and remember the songs. I tried to think of my favorite song, but I love every one; they are so catchy! "The Kings and Queens of England" is a compact little history lesson. I need to get another copy for myself; one I loaned out never came back. That's okay - this is one CD I want every kid to hear!

Leslie S.
My children are regularly singing the songs from this album, whether they are listening to it or not! It has been a fantastic way to introduce them to various composers. They have become quite good at identifying composers based on their musical styles from this CD! It's a lot of fun!