Jarvis Cocker reads Peter and the Wolf Live

The most magical experience I had over Christmas was going to The Royal Festival Hall to hear Jarvis Cocker read Prokofiev's 1936  classical composition and children's story Peter and the Wolf, accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra. Jarvis' deeply mellifluous voice rolled out each word of the tale like another musical instrument alongside the flute-bird, clarinet-cat, oboe-duck, timpani-hunters, horn-wolf and strings-Peter. I defy anyone in the auditorium not to have felt their heart skip with the strings, soar with the flute, quake with the drums and arch, stretch and purr with the clarinet  as the story of the little boy who traps a malevolent wolf with the help of a little bird unfurled. Once Jarvis had finished reading the story, the orchestra took up their instruments once again to play the piece over, this time while the Oscar-winning animated short film by Suzie Templeton was screened (teaser above). Nothing could have been more of a complete delight.