Le piano magique de Sparky

Sparky's Magic piano might be seen as a modern fairy tale. It certainly deals with themes of how intoxicating Fame can be for those unprepared for it.

When a magical piano offers Sparky the chance to get fame and recognition by feigning to play for him, it seems almost too good to be true. Before long, Sparky is off jet-setting to exotic locales and charming his audiences with his "musical talent" on the piano. The path to celebrity hood soon goes to his head, and he becomes like one of the celebrity kids now domineering our tabloids today.

The key delights of this little animated feature are the wonderful classical pieces from the likes of Beethoven, Chopin and Bach. I was blown away by the lilting melodies from the Masters of old, and like the audience in the cartoon, you too will be swaying to the music before long.

I loved this as a child, I remember watching this delightful animated feature a lot and also my granddad playing it on cassette. It was in short one of my favourite childhood memories. Everything about it is good, the animation, the music, the story and the characters.

The animation is very well done. Not garish or flat or murder to the eyes. Instead it is colourful, bright and just excellent really. While the character features were impressive, the colourful backgrounds were even better.

The story is a timeless one, and shows how fame really takes its toll on those young enough to be prepared for it. It tells of a young boy who is learning to play the piano, and it becomes magic, then Sparky gets famous basically. I could really relate to Sparky, as I am a musician myself and I hated playing the piano as well, I was useless at it.

The voice acting is excellent. Josh Rodine is appealing as Sparky, but I loved even more the contributions from Mel Blanc, Cloris Leachman, Tony Curtis and Vincent Price(the latter I am a fan of).

But the main reason why I love this gem so much is the music. I adore classical music, and the musical snippets from composers such as Chopin, Bach, Beethoven and Rachmaninov were a sheer delight especially for a 6 year old girl 11 years ago who was really getting absorbed into its wonderful world.

Overall, this is a real gem and a perfect introduction for youngsters. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I remember this piece of early Electronic music and thus began a lifelong affinity for the genre, it really got me hooked. A marvellous story about a child and his magic piano wit some very early vocoder effects really stuck with me, I am now in my very late fifties and still rate this piece, it really spoke to me as a child and I loved it to bits. I wonder if anyone knows who performed this piece and when it was performed?