Mikhail, Bill, Peter and the Wolf

Mikhail Gorbachev and Bill Clinton are about to follow in the footsteps of Dame Edna Everage, Boris Karloff and David Bowie as they narrate a new recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

The last leader of the Soviet Union will join the former US president in a special performance of Prokofiev's work by the Russian National Orchestra under the command of the Grammy-winning conductor Kent Nagano. The recording will be Mr Gorbachev's English language debut.

"We chose former politicians, who have a great ability to communicate," Nagano said, in an answer that may seem odd to Russians; when in power Mr Gorbachev was derided for his provincial accent and long, indecipherable sentences.

Sophia Loren joins the two former leaders for the performance of Prokofiev's tale and a newly written piece, The Wolf and Peter by the French composer Jean-Pascal Beintus, which tells the tale from wolf's side. "We thought it would be interesting to see the story from the point of view of the wolf," Nagano said. "He's in the forest but the forest is disappearing, urbanisation is cutting the trees away... and we see why the wolf is so desperate."

The new version especially appealed to Mr Gorbachev because of its environmental side. He is donating his fee for the performance to Green Cross International, the environmental organisation he founded in 1993. Mr Clinton is donating his fee to the International Aids Trust, whose advisory committee he chairs with Nelson Mandela.

"The idea was born from the goal of trying to create a recording that would be very stimulating for families and at the same time for connoisseurs," said Nagano, who will join Mr Gorbachev next Monday to record his narration in English. Loren and Clinton recorded their narration last December in Geneva.

Peter and the Wolf has been used for years in schools as a simple way to introduce children to the instruments of the orchestra. The new recording will be released later this year.