What problem do classical music and comics share? That of the diminishing audience. In both fields, the proverbial new listener or reader is a hot topic, and the aim of various corporate initiatives. Music teacher Matt Parry has come up with an ingenious idea that would work for both mediums: a graphic novel to accompany his previously recorded narrated version of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade (don’t mind the Brits’ wacky spelling), featuring the voices of Brian Blessed and Rory Bremner, among others.
Funny, as much as the big corporations talk about taking unique approaches to attracting new consumers, they never come up with ideas as daring as this.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, let me drop some knowledge that one year of being a music major taught me on you. Scheherazade is an orchestral suite, composed of four movements, that is loosely based on One Thousand and One Nights, better known in the modern world as The Arabian Nights. Loosely is the key word here: while the suite has movements with titles such as “The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship,” or “Festival at Baghdad,” Rimsky-Korsakov’s most famous work does not tell a specific story, but aims to evoke certain images. As such, it’s a perfect choice for a project like this; with no specific story set in stone, Parry is in a perfect place to make up his own, one that can be slightly more tailored to a modern children’s audience, without seeming “disrespectful” to the source material.
If, by the way, you want to listen to the work before backing this project, I recommend Eugene Ormandy’s recording with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the CD of which also includes the excellent Russian Easter Festival Overture and Capriccio Espagnol. Anyway, moving on.
Now, the CD is already finished, though only 1,000 copies were printed (should have been 1,0001, if you ask me). You can buy it from the original project’s website, though I don’t know if they ship internationally, or even stream it on Spotify for a taste of what Parry and co. have put together. As specified earlier, the goal of this Kickstarter is to provide funding for a graphic novel that can be read along with the CD. The bad news is that Jonny Duddle, who provided the excellent cover art for the CD and character design, is unavailable. The good news is that Parry was able to find another talented illustrator, Faye Simms (see some examples of her work here). This is a true multimedia project: words, images, voice-acting, and music working in tandem to tell a single story, and stands as one of the more unique — and plausible — attempts to get children into classical music. And, for more of our site’s bent, it also helps get them into comics! For fans of both, such as myself, it’s a win-win situation.
Now, the project has a starting target of $13,500 (note: actual goals are in pounds, and my dollar values are only approximations subject to change). If you’re really crazy about Brian Blessed, you can get one or two .mp3s of him shouting ridiculous things that can be used as ringtones or alarms for $7 or $10. You can also get just the music or just the .pdf graphic novel for $15 or $18, respectively, but I think what most people are going to want are the combined graphic novel and recording bundle, which runs about $22. If the project meets only its basic goal of $13,500, that $22 pledge will get you only the first twelve-page chapter. As the project meets various stretch goals, though, that .pdf starts to expand. An additional $12,000 adds twelve more pages, as do another $12,000 on top of that. Add $6,000, and six pages will be added that introduce the reader to the composer and his music. Therefore, if the project raises approximately $43,500, your $22 will get you a forty-two page graphic novel (in .pdf) as well as .mp3s of the recording. If Parry is able to raise more than that, he will look into printing the book and funding a stage show, but no specific goals have been set for these.
Matt Parry has been funding this entire project out-of-pocket so far (and will continue to take no fees or royalties), which goes to show how much his heart is in it. If the Scheherazade project is a success, Parry has plans to continue the series with recordings of other works of program music such as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and Grieg’s Peer Gynt (for those of you who don’t listen to classical music, Black Swan and… uh, the song that plays while the Winklevoss twins lose their match in The Social Network). For now, though, we have a unique project that is, in a sense, halfway done, and needs our help to complete it. I’ve noticed a strange overlap between comic fans and classical music fans, so it is my personal hope that this project explodes like so many clever efforts have. You should hope the same.
