David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf

David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf
Studio album by David Bowie with the Philadelphia Orchestra
Released	2 May 1978
Recorded	December 1977; RCA Studio B, New York City
Genre	Classical
Length	44:18
Label	RCA Red Seal Records
Producer	Jay David Saks

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Rolling Stone	(favourable)

David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf is a classical music album containing David Bowie's narration of Sergei Prokofiev's 1936 composition Peter and the Wolf. The music is performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy. The album was released in May 1978 on the RCA Red Seal label. It reached number 136 on the US Pop Albums chart.

Bowie was RCA's third choice to undertake the narration for Peter and the Wolf behind Alec Guinness and Peter Ustinov, who had both turned the album down. Bowie has since said that it was a Christmas present for his son, Duncan Jones, then 7 years old.

Stephen Demorest, reviewing the album Rolling Stone at the time of its release, describes Bowie's involvement as "engaging and benevolent". Demorest finishes his review by saying Bowie had "found his most charming guise since Hunky Dory." Joe Viglione for AllMusic finds the album as "charming" and Bowie's performance as "splendid" and describes the Philadelphia Orchestra's involvement as "first rate". He finished by saying it was "A remarkable and well-crafted project."

The original 1978 US version of the LP album was pressed on green vinyl and included liner notes insert (RCA Red Seal ARL1-2743). Later issues were pressing in standard black vinyl. A different album cover was used for 1992 US CD release depicting Bowie with wolf ears.

The album has been reissued a number of times on Compact Disc with varying extra tracks and three album covers. The most recent was released in 2014 by Sony Classical.

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