The Composer Is Dead review

Lemony Snicket and Nathaniel Stookey
The Composer Is Dead
HarperCollins, $18.

Since 1936, Prokofiev’s much-loved Peter and the Wolf has topped the brief list of fanciful yet savvy classical compositions for younger listeners. But with the arrival of The Composer Is Dead, a collaboration between “A Series of Unfortunate Events” scribe Snicket (a.k.a. Daniel Handler) and still-breathing composer Stookey, the notion of introducing children to orchestral music through an engaging narrative is updated for a new generation. Commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony and premiered in 2006, Composer details a droll whodunit in which the titular composer is swiftly decomposing, and the members of the orchestra are suspects. In Snicket’s story, which he delivers in a characteristically wry, slightly morbid style, the determined Inspector grills flamboyant violins, bombastic trumpets, flighty flutes, a homebody tuba and other musical instruments in search of the culprit. Older children will pick up more of the satirical nuances in the tale, but any young listener is sure to enjoy the animated sounds as Stookey’s score playfully evokes the character of each instrument in turn. Parents, meanwhile, will relish the witty quotations from well-known pieces by Beethoven, Chopin, Stravinsky and others, ending in an ingenious funeral march. (On the CD, the music is furnished both with and without narration.) Carson Ellis’s playfully sophisticated illustrations in the accompanying book are the perfect complement to story and music alike.—Steve Smith

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