Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Duration: 28 min
A boy, a wolf, and a whole orchestra: an adventure that helps you recognize instruments as a lively tale unfolds.
Peter meets a duck, a bird, a cat, his grandfather, and a wolf. Prokofiev tells their story by giving each character a clearly identifiable instrumental voice. The plot remains simple, yet it opens an immediate door into the orchestra: we hear the characters as much as we follow them.
Listen for each theme’s returns rather than following only the storyline. The flute makes the bird dart and flutter, the oboe sketches the duck, and the strings accompany Peter. The narrator’s voice connects these markers; little by little, the ear learns to distinguish the instrument families.
In 1936, Natalya Sats commissioned the work for the Moscow Central Children’s Theater. Prokofiev wrote both the music and the narrator’s text to introduce young listeners to the instruments of the orchestra.
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