AN OSCAR WILDE MUSIC DISCOGRAPHY :

THE SELFISH GIANT

Compiled with commentary by Tine Englebert

page created September 2008

For the Discographies Table of Contents, click | To hub page | To THE OSCHOLARS home page

COMPOSERS
Bongo and The Point		Jonathan Kaldor
Eric Coates		Graeme Koehne
Lehman Engel		Jim Weiss
Ron Goodwin		Sheila Wilson
Stefan Heucke		Debbie Wiseman
Michael Jenkins		Nikos Xanthoulis

1. SHEILA WILSON

The Selfish Giant, a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic children’s story in 9 songs.

This musical retells the beautiful story by Oscar Wilde and is ideal for a concert performance either with or without the play, at any time of year, or as an alternative to traditional Christmas and Easter productions. There is a backing CD available at Musicroom.com

Song Listing:

Always Winter, Never Spring

The Wounds Of Love

Paradise

Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted!

Run For That Wall!

Why Have All The Flowers Gone Away?

The Search

You're Welcome Too!

The Selfish Giant Theme (Instrumental)

2. BONGO AND THE POINT

The Selfish Giant, rock opera by Jim and Dee Patton of Bongo and the Point

Bongo and the Point is the result of two musicians (Jim & Dee) and two of their daughters (Elfin & Bree) deciding that they needed to combine their love of music with their desire to start performing live.

‘The Selfish Giant’ is a project that took over three years to write and record. It is true to the genre of the opera in that it tells the story completely through the music; no speaking or narration is used. It is true to the genre of the rock opera in that it is a classic/progressive rock album over an hour in length. It is unique in that, as far as we know, it is the first time a time-tested fairy tale (first published in 1888) has been recorded as a rock opera. This is probably Oscar Wilde's most popular fairy tale.

The CD (700261235882) is coming back in stock soon at CD Baby Independent Music. You can listen to the songs of The Selfish Giant at CD Baby.

Track Listing

1 Overture

11 The Giant's Lament

21 Winter Returns

2 On My Way

12 Winter Marks Time

22 Don't Be Afraid

4 Don't Come Back Again

14 The Birds Sing

24 Beautiful, Beautiful Garden

5 A Very Selfish Giant

15 What A Day

25 Tell Him To Come

6 Spring Didn't Come

16 Music Is in the Air

26 Everyday In the Afternoon

7 Dear Mrs. SnowTratTrack

17 Reach!

27 Silver Fruit And Golden Branches

8 The Giant's Complaint

18 His Heart Melts

28 Get Me My Sword

9 Crashing This Party

19 Everybody Run

29 Wounds Of Love

10 Winter Comes

20 No One Will Help Me

You can see Bongo and the Point perform ‘Spring Didn't Come’ and ‘Everyday In the Afternoon’ at Youtube

3. MICHAEL JENKINS

The Selfish Giant, musical by Michael Jenkins & Nigel Williams

There is a cast recording available on CD. Release date: 28.09.1993; Label: Colosseum Schallplatten / TER. Company: Rough Trade. 1993 Kings College, England, Cast [CAST RECORDING]. EAN/UPC code: 5015062120622

Michael Jenkins (Composer, Conductor), The Selfish Giant Pit Orchestra (Orchestra), Alexander Burcher (Performer), Alison Cain (Performer), Chris Hordyment (Performer), Edward Watts (Performer), Graham Trew (Performer), Harry Williams (Performer), Jack Williams (Performer), James Bretton (Performer), James Butler (Performer), James Levelle (Performer), Michael Stern (Performer), Oliver Coates (Performer), Oliver Pikett (Performer), Richard Tiley (Performer), Robert Garret (Performer), Tom Basden (Performer), Tom Cowell (Performer), Nigel Williams (Librettto)

Track Listings

1. Opening/I'm Mallaby

6. I Like Children

11. Climb Up!

2. Everyone Feels

7. Someday

12. Child Will Make Your Day

3. I Want Someone to Love Me

8. Let's Do the Show Right Here

13. Hopscotch

4. We Are the Boys from Cranbourne School

9. When the Snow Falls

14. Here in the Giant's Garden

5. Manners

10. Be My Friendly Giant

15. I Want to Be Thirteen

4. GRAEME KOEHNE

The Selfish Giant, ballet

Graeme Koehne is one of Australia's most successful ballet music composers. His work for the Sydney Dance Company in the 80s led to a distinguished career in this field. The Selfish Giant, written for the Sydney Dance Company, is presented here in its complete form (44:56). Once Around the Sun is an orchestral suite extracted from the ballet (24:27). Koehne's music is cheerful, melodic, rhythmic and accessible!

Label: Tall Poppies, catalogue number 115; release date 20th April 1999.

1. The Selfish Giant

2. Once Around the Sun

   Composer   Graeme Koehne (20th Century)

   Composer   Graeme Koehne (20th Century)

   Conductor   Stephen Barlow

   Conductor   Stephen Barlow

   Genre   20th Century Period / Ballet

   Genre   20th Century Period

   Date Written   1983

   Date Written   1988

   Ensemble   Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra

   Ensemble   Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra

   Period   20th Century

   Period   20th Century

   Country   Australia

   Country   Australia

   Recording   Studio

   Recording   Studio

   Venue   Conservatory, Queensland, Australia

   Venue   Conservatory, Queensland, Australia

   Recording Date   11/1996

   Recording Date   11/1996

5. DEBBIE WISEMAN

Stories of Oscar Wilde: The Selfish Giant and The Nightingale and the Rose  

Narrated by Vanessa Redgrave and Stephen Fry; music by Debbie Wiseman. With the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner. Teldec 8573-81506-2, 2000 [62:37]

Nominated for Best Spoken Word Album for Children - Grammy Awards, 2002

In 1997 composer Debbie Wiseman wrote the score for the film Wilde. Her efforts won her an Ivor Novello Award nomination for Best Original Film Score, but her interest in Oscar Wilde did not stop there. She also wrote musical settings for The Nightingale and Rose and The Selfish Giant.

6. JONATHAN KALDOR

The Selfish Giant, retelling with musical score

The Selfish Giant is a faithful retelling of Oscar Wilde’s beloved short story, with music by Jonathan Kaldor and Andrew C Wadsworth. Published by Happy Feet Stories and launched by Blackwell’s Bookshops in Oxford in 2001, this audio book also contains EarthDances, a modern fable written by Andrew C Wadsworth, with music by Jonathan Kaldor. Both stories are lavishly orchestrated full-cast dramatisations. Happy Feet Stories 0-9541402-0-6

7. LEHMAN ENGEL

The Selfish Giant, an Oscar Wilde fairy tale dramatized by Arthur Kurlan with an original score composed and directed by Lehman Engel.

One of Hollywood's great actors, Fredric March (1897-1975), who won an Academy Award in 1932 for his role as both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, narrates this classic Oscar Wilde fairy tale. This 10 inch 78 RPM Decca record album (2 discs) Decca DA-389 with music by Lehman Engel was released in 1945. Total Time: 12:15

8. ERIC COATES

The Selfish Giant, phantasy for orchestra, 1925; setting arranged for Military Bands, 1934.

There are several recordings available of this work:

1. The Symphonic Eric Coates. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor: Rumon Gamba. Chandos CHAN9869 Audio CD (June 25, 2002). The Selfish Giant. A Phantasy, orchestrated by Sydney Baynes, is track 2.

2. The Best Of British Light Music Vol. 3. Orchestras: BBC Concert Orchestra, Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra; Conductors: Kenneth Alwyn; Adrian Leaper; Andrew Penny; Ludovit Rajter; Ernest Tomlinson. 65.49 mins. Label: Naxos Catalogue No: 8.554711; Release date: 1st January 1999. The Selfish Giant is track 5

3. London Again. Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; conductor: John Wilson. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England, 7th–8th October 2003. DDD AVIE AV2070 [79:14]. The Selfish Giant is track 3.

4. British Light Music. Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra; conductor: Adrian Leaper. Marco Polo 8.223445. The Selfish Giant is track 4.

9. RON GOODWIN

Score for the animation film The Selfish Giant, 1971. French title: Le Géant Egoiste. Director Peter Sander, narration by Paul Hecht.

GB LP EMI One Up   OU 2060. Narration by Paul Hecht

CA LP Capitol    SQ 6401

FR LP Barclay    80510. Narration by Charles Aznavour

GB LP Studio 2    TWOSP 108

AU CD EMI    2505052

See the movie at YouTube and hear the beautiful score.

10. NIKOS XANTHOULIS

O egoistis gigantast. A Children's book bundled with a CD. Chroma Musica

Oscar Wilde's classic children's story, 'The Selfish Giant', is available in an illustrated Greek language book with accompanying CD. The CD, bundled with the book, features the Greek adaptation of the classic children's story. Greek adaptation and lyrics by Maria Bourani, illustrations by Katerina Veroutsos (foremost illustrator of children's literature in Greece), music by Nikos Xanthoulis.

Twenty-two Canadian children of Greek descent participated in the first ever CD recording of a Greek opera based on 'The Selfish Giant' by Oscar Wilde. The children were accompanied by a symphonic orchestra as well as by the voices of tenor Dimitris Ilias and soprana Maria Diamantis. Twelve narrators (most of them children), and the 23-piece Chroma Musika Sinfonietta were also a participating factor to this work.

See the news item at YouTube.

11. STEFAN HEUCKE

Der selbstsüchtige Riese, Märchen für Sprecher und Klavier zu vier Händen, op. 20a, Auftragswerk von OMEGA e.V.2002, Uraufführung, 2002 Bad Salzuflen, 45’. Translation Hannelore Neves. Composer Stefan Heucke; Bettina Böttinger, voice - Andreas Grau & Götz Schumacher, piano. Drawings: Dominique Rebourgeon. Publisher: Schott Music, edition with CD. 44 Pages - Hardback/Hard Cover. ISMN: M-001-13607-5; ISBN 978-3-7957-0498-8

‘Sieben Jahre ist der selbstsüchtige Riese bei seinem Freund, dem Menschenfresser, zu Besuch gewesen. In dieser Zeit ist in seinem Garten viel passiert: Zwischen den Blumen und Bäumen spielten nach der Schule die Kinder. Als der Riese wieder nach Hause kommt und das fröhliche Treiben sieht, wird er wütend. Er baut eine riesige Mauer um seinen Garten, um diesen für sich wieder allein zu haben. Doch der Winter kommt und will nicht mehr gehen ...’
Was passiert, damit am Ende doch wieder Wärme und Licht einkehren, erzählt das Musikmärchen, das der Komponist Stefan Heucke nach einem Text von Oscar Wilde vertont hat. Klavierstücke begleiten und vertiefen die Episoden des Märchens musikalisch. Auf der CD wird das Märchen von Rundfunk-Moderatorin Bettina Böttinger gelesen, Klavier: Andreas Grau und Götz Schumacher.

12. JIM WEISS

Giants! A Colossal Collection of Tales and Tunes

‘A big recording full of big surprises, mixing favorite classics, original songs and the very best folktales for listeners of all sizes. Expect giant grins all around. Jack and the Beanstalk – The Selfish Giant (includes song: ‘In the Garden’) – The Giant of Grabbist – The ‘Fantastical’ Tale of Finn MacCoul

In this entertaining collection, Jim Weiss presents his versions of some well-loved stories about giants, a long-standing source of intrigue for the young. ‘The Giant of Grabbist,’ ‘Jack and the Beanstalk,’ ‘The Selfish Giant’ and ‘The Fantastical Tale of Finn MacCoul’ yield themselves to Weiss's magic. He deftly manages different voices for each character and sings two original songs, accompanied by guitar. ‘If I Were a Giant’ is lively and singable, beginning and ending the storytelling session. The song ‘In the Garden,’ in ‘The Selfish Giant,’ is sung by the children to portray their happiness in the giant's garden. Weiss actually uses a bird's return rather than the lone child, who is regarded as the Christ figure, to end the story.

Reading level: Ages 9-12. Publisher: Greathall Productions (5th April 2000) ISBN-10: 1882513428; ISBN-13: 978-1882513420 Cassette Tape and Audio CD available.

For the Discographies Table of Contents, click | To hub page | To THE OSCHOLARS home page