Oscar's Orchestra, Vol. 1 & 2

PreS-Gr 3—Originally broadcast on BBC-TV in the mid 1990s, this traditional cel animation cartoon series takes place several thousand years in the future, when all music has been banned from the world by evil dictator Thadius Vent. As a young boy, Thadius hated to practice the piano, so when he was forced to play a recital for his parents' friends, he asked Oscar, the piano, to play for him. Oscar assented, but Thadius's ruse was revealed and he was humiliated. After Vent bans music as an adult, the instruments of New Vienna remain silent until they are rallied by Oscar to defy the tyrant and bring music back into the world. Vent continues his attempts to hunt down and destroy all instruments in these 26 episodes which contain both futuristic and anachronistic touches: hover cars, Jetson-style buildings, extraterrestrials, robots, time travel, 18th-century wigs, and Polaroid cameras. The late Dudley Moore gives voice to Oscar, and each episode includes a number of classical compositions by famous composers, such as "The Ride of the Valkyries" (Wagner), "Symphony No 5" (Beethoven), "Flight of the Bumblebee" (Rimsky-Korsakov), and "The Firebird" (Stravinsky), among many others. The voice-over acting is very good, and the musical performances are excellent. This action-packed, humorous series succeeds in its goal of demonstrating the importance of music in everyone's lives.—Beverly Wrigglesworth, San Antonio Public Library, TX