Alas, Ben Kingsley’s narration of Peter and the Wolf is a disappointment. It is very low-key: at the beginning it tends to hang fire and as the adventure proceeds it lacks a sense of exhilaration. Kingsley is at his best in the episode involving the cat and the bird, when he darkly pictures the wolf walking “round and round the tree looking at them with greedy eyes”. He lightens his approach and his voice for the final procession, so that his contrasting gentle evocation of the duck inside the wolf is another affecting moment.
In The Young Person’s Guide Kingsley’s way with the exposition of the character of orchestral instruments is very laid-back, almost school-masterly, and one feels the need for a greater projection of enthusiasm in detailing their special merits. The LSO provide admirable illustrations, but one feels it is only at the end, when they launch into Britten’s almost ferocious fugue, that they are finally letting their hair down. Mackerras opens the proceedings with a brilliant but unsubtle performance of L’apprenti sorcier. Good, warm resonant recording throughout, with Kingsley’s voice closely balanced.'