AUTHOR DAN BROWN GOES ‘WILD’ FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC
DAN BROWN
The world has a new orchestra at its fingertips, an ensemble of sprightly critters that comes to life in Dan Brown’s debut children’s book with the help of his own classical music compositions.
As “Wild Symphony” hit shelves earlier this week, the bestselling author and lifelong musician invites young readers to immerse themselves in an imaginative experience of sight and sound that is inspired by such classics as “Peter and the Wolf” and “The Carnival of the Animals.” The multifaceted project, an expansion of his 1989 self-produced album, “Musica Animalia,” includes a free interactive smartphone app that uses augmented reality to play the corresponding musical vignette for each animal when the camera of a mobile device is held over its page.
“I grew up surrounded by classical music and loved it,” said Brown, whose first piano teacher was his mother, a professional organist. “I was just hoping to create something that lets kids share that excitement and enthusiasm, at a young age, for classical music. Now, more than ever, kids need imagination, and music conjures your imagination.”
Brown’s symphonic suite, produced by Bob Lord and his team at PARMA Recordings and orchestrated by Houston-based Karl Blench, will find its way into concert halls around the globe this fall, receiving its world premiere with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra in Croatia, where the recording occurred. Although programming is subject to change due to the coronavirus, the Houston Symphony is scheduled to join the wondrous journey in January, presenting the work at Jones Hall as the picture book’s whimsical illustrations, by Susan Batori, are projected onto a giant screen.
In the meantime, however, the rising stars of the Houston Youth Symphony, under the leadership of Michael Webster, will take the spotlight in an opportunity that came about through Lord’s connection to local composer and educator Arthur Gottschalk.
On Saturday, Brown will premiere a quarantine-friendly video on his YouTube channel, in which members of the youth orchestra perform the final movement under the baton of the book’s title character, Maestro Mouse. This undertaking, although originally intended to be filmed at Rice University’s Stude Concert Hall before the plans were upended by the pandemic, captures the inclusive spirit of the music that not only appeals to listeners of all ages but is also able to be performed by ensembles of various levels, Webster explained.
This project is a departure from the profession for which Brown is best known: writing acclaimed thriller novels such as “The Da Vinci
Code.” In this story, Maestro Mouse gathers his musical friends, who impart pieces of mindful wisdom while jumbled letters that spell out clues are waiting to be found in the backgrounds of each page.
“Dan has a very finely attuned sense of what he wants to express and how he wants to express it,” said Lord, who has had his finger on the pulse of this project from its earliest stage over two years ago. “It’s been very interesting to see the parallels between his musical work and his writing. He is to the point, concise, crisp, tight, and all of the vivid color that he has in his writing, I think it shows up in the music, too.”
With contagious energy, a kangaroo bounces to lively melodies, rats scurry to quickening rhythms, a hippo marches to a mighty tune and a boar dances to an uplifting song of celebration. Yet, even in the calmer moments, the book evokes positivity. A ray, for instance, glides through water to the sparkling harmonies of the fifth movement, to which Brown and Blench are both partial, carrying with it a message of elegance and beauty.
Beyond sharing life lessons, “Wild Symphony” introduces readers to instruments of the orchestra and opens the door for the next generation of audience members to form a relationship with classical music by simply exposing them to the universal and unifying language.
“There is a continued need for connection between people,” Lord said. “In this particular case, we feel it’s important that people listen together as a family; they play together as a family, as a group, as a partnership, as a team. That’s a really big part of what the goal of this project is.”