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The Magical Music Box




The Magical Music Box, more commonly known as ''The Music Box'' was a British children's Magazine . It ran from 1993 to 1994 in a series of 52 weekly serialisations. The aim of the magazine was to introduce children into classical music and to popularise this form of music among the younger generations.

The stories followed the fictional adventures of two siblings, Sarah and Jamie who find a magical music box through which they are able to enter other worlds, most commonly as spectators.1 The stories were generally related to other children's tales or fables, such as issue 38 ( King Arthur & The Knights Of The Round Table ) or issue 27 ( The Imperial Robes ).

The Dramatisations were produced by IRDP , Independent Radio Drama Productions on request of Marshall Cavendish Partworks Ltd 2


FEATURES

''The magazine was relatively expensive for children to afford, costing £3.99 (with a tape) or £4.99 (with a cd) per issue.''

  • A different weekly story involving the Siblings Sarah and Jamie

  • A CD or Tape with each issue

  • The story in Spoken Word with an accompaniement of classical music

  • The classical music on its own

  • History behind the stories and the music

  • Facts about the relevant composer & instruments



AWARDS

The magazine won a Gold Medal and a Grand Award Trophy for Entertainment Programming at the International Radio Festival 1994 held in New York. These were for the drama in issue four, ''The Wizard's Spell''.


LIST OF MAGAZINE SUB-TITLES

''A list of the issue names and the music which accompanied the stories''

1. Journey to the Stars - The Planets by Gustav Holst

2. Hall of the Troll King - Peer Gynt Suites by Edvard Grieg

3. Sky Racers - Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony

4. The Wizard's Spell - Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky

5. House of Terrors - Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz

6. Daylight Robbery - Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin

7. The River God - Ravel's Bolero

8. Night of the Aliens - Bach's Orchestral Suite No 4

9. The Bull Fights Back - Bizet's Carmen Suites 1 and 2

10. Animal Rescue - Carnival Of The Animals by Saint-Saens

11. Sindbad and the Kraaken - Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade

12. Musical Misfits - Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto

13. Nightmare Gallery - Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition

14. The Highwayman's Mask - Viennese Waltzes by Strauss

15. The Dell of Time - Vivaldi's Four Seasons

16. The Big Freeze - Violin Concerto by Brahms

17. The Bowman and the Baron - Overtures by Rossini

18. The Valkyries - Music from Operas by Wagner

19. The Spinning Wheel - Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty Suite

20. Wagon Train West - Dvorak's New World Symphony

21. Fireworks! - Music for the Royal Fireworks by Handel

22. On Thin Ice - Borodin's Polovtsian Dances

23. Fire-Bringers - Beethoven's Symphony No 5

24. The Captain's Curse - Nocturnes by Debussy

25. Eve of Battle - Solo Piano Pieces by Chopin

26. Black Angus - Overtures by Mendelssohn

27. The Imperial Robes - A Little Night Music by Mozart

28. Space Envoys - Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2

29. Boomerang! - Symphonies Nos 5 and 6 by Mahler

30. Bird of Fire - Stravinsky's Firebird Suite

31. Lost and Found - Schumann's "Spring" Symphony

32. Pyramid of Khonsoul - "Surprise" Symphony by Haydn

33. Showdown in Maverick - Rodeo by Aaron Copland

34. The Long Shadow - Piano Concerto No 1 by Franz Liszt

35. Festival of the Sun - The Love of Three Oranges by Prokofiev

36. The Sea Princess - Debussy's La Mer

37. The Monks' Treasure - Solo Pieces for the Organ by J.S. Bach

38. King Arthur's Sword - Symphony No 40 by Mozart

39. The Magic Lyre - Piano Sonatas by Beethoven

40. The Great River - The Moldau by Smetana

41. In the Spotlight - Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite

42. Beyond the Wall - Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss

43. The Lady's Tale - Carmina Burana by Carl Orff

44. Outlanders - Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

45. The Savage Flames - The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky

46. Sealed Orders - Symphony No 1 by Brahms

47. Caught in the Act - Dance Suite by Bela Bartok

48. On the Battlefield - Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture

49. Trouble with Time - Mussorgsky's A Night on the Bare Mountain

50. Treason and Plot - Baroque Music by Albinoni, Pachelbel and Corelli

51. The Happy Dragon - Schubert's Symphony No 5

52. The Little Soldier - Symphony No 9 by Shostakovich



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