Carnival Of The Animals by The Kanneh-Masons has a wonderful zip and energy about it… sad, then, that it’s mixed up with a new set of verses
The Kanneh-Masons Carnival Of The Animals Decca, out now
Saint-Saëns would have hated this album. He thought Carnival Of The Animals (1886) threatened his reputation as a serious composer and refused to have it published during his lifetime.
On this evidence, he was right. This Carnival, from that amazing family the Kanneh-Masons and seven friends, has a wonderful zip and energy about it. It’s pretty much irresistible.
Sad, then, that it’s mixed up with a new set of verses from Michael Morpurgo, read by him and Olivia Colman. Morpurgo is less twee than some others have been – even the great Ogden Nash – and he reads his stuff well.
This Carnival (above), from that amazing family the Kanneh-Masons and seven friends, has a wonderful zip and energy about it
As does the ubiquitous Colman, who seems keen to create a warmer impression here than she does with her dour Queen in The Crown. But these verses don’t last the way the music does, and you won’t want to hear them most of the time.
The Kanneh-Masons by themselves play some pleasing musical interludes amid Morpurgo’s Grandpa Christmas. And they include, to me, a few new bits of music, such as their charming arrangement of Eric Whitacre’s The Seal Lullaby.
But Morpurgo’s grandfatherly sermon about saving the world to his granddaughter Mia, charmingly portrayed by the youngest Kanneh-Mason, 11-year-old Mariatu, is way too right-on and politically correct. This one really is horribly twee.
Of course, animals deserve to be treated with much more compassion by humans. It’s just that David Attenborough does this sort of thing so much better.
Morpurgo also suggests that without Man, these creatures would live in a peaceful paradise. Tosh. Ever heard of nature red in tooth and claw, Michael? David Attenborough knows better than to peddle sentimental twaddle like that.
Anyone who wants to listen to this bit more than once deserves a medal. But there is still plenty to enjoy here, on an album that ends brilliantly with the Kanneh-Masons’ take on Bob Marley’s Redemption Song. So don’t let my quibbles put you off.