Glen Roven is a Guest Blogger for STLtoday.com's Classical Music Blog.
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/classical-music-and-culture/classical-musicculture/2008/08/composer-glen-roven-on-the-runaway-bunny-part-1/-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Composer Glen Roven is guesting on the blog today. Part 1 of 2:
By Glen Roven
Jim Althoff of radio station KFUO-FM (99.1) will play my new Violin Concerto this Saturday at 10:00 a.m., and I couldn’t be happier.
These days, with all the trials and tribulations facing classical music — dwindling and aging audiences, the record companies’ uncertain future — many composers (meaning me) have learned to accept the sad reality that actual live performances of their compositions will be rarer than a C chord in a Schoenberg symphony. A major label release will be even more atypical. These days composers (meaning me, again) have come to expect most performances will take place in the concert all of their minds.
Luckily, my new piece, The Runaway Bunny, a violin concerto for reader, violin and orchestra, has been an exception. It was recorded by Sony/BMG (a big deal), performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, (a bigger deal) and narrated by the divine Brooke Shields (a mega-watt deal). I even conducted it at Carnegie Hall in April, with Glenn Close as the narrator and the American Symphony Orchestra. Plus, it’s been played by over thirty classical stations all over the country, KFUO being the latest.
Why is this piece different than all the rest? I’m very proud of my score but I’m also very sober about what has opened the doors: three words, The Runaway Bunny.
As every four-year-old in American knows, Margaret Wise Brown’s book is one of the most popular children’s books of all time. It annually sells almost a million copies and has been known to bring grown men to tears. In fact, when Brooke recorded the piece, she said to me she couldn’t get through it without crying. DJs and usually heartless stone-cold concert promoters turn to mush when they remember the book, and their curiosity is piqued. Open-sesame, I get a consideration.
It doesn’t hurt to have Brooke’s name attached. (And Glenn certainly helped the sales at Carnegie Hall.)
This is not to say that getting from my mind to KFUO was an easy road. It took me two years of negotiations with HarperCollins, the publisher of the book, to secure the rights. Not to mention the legal fees.
Then, it took Sony/UK two years to actually record it and Sony/US another two years to release it. Contracts, funding, schedules, record executives coming and going, all contributed to this time delay, which actually in music-industry time, is light-speed. I wrote the piece when my nephew, Myles, was born. He’s almost five. Composing is the easiest part of the process. Certainly, the most fun. The rest is where it gets dicey!
(To be continued….)
Texas Public Radio uses the RUNAWAY BUNNY album as a subscription thank you.
Subscribers as supporters of Texas Public Radio who make a donation of $150 will receive a copy of THE RUNAWAY BUNNY as a thank you for their support.Check this out by going to http://www.tpr.org/support/gifts.html.
CD of the Week on PBS Affiliate!
The Runaway Bunny was featured on KBAQ 89.5FM (a PBS affiliate) as the CD of the week for the week of June 29th, 2008.To listen to the review, visit The Runaway Bunny Review by Sterling Beeaff courtesy of KBAQ.
THE RUNAWAY BUNNY: article by Susan Shreve
At the heart of The Runaway Bunny is the mother of our dreams. Off goes the little bunny on his great and dangerous adventure running away from home. After him rushes the mother bunny, wherever he chooses to go, whatever he chooses to become--a fisherman to his fish, a tightrope walker to his flying trapeze--until happily exhausted, the runaway bunny returns home to be the mother bunny’s little bunny once again.This is a perfect story, capturing our deep human longing to fly into the horizon with a wind of safety under our wings, to be as free as the open air, safe in our daring, completely secure. The book is a promise to children, written with a purity of language, a delight in imagination and clarity of heart beautifully captured by Glen Roven’s musical vision. We open with the bunny— such an endearing, fun-loving bunny-- I’m running away, he says—and we hear him full of excitement and humor, follow the runaway from one adventure to the next –as he races on his merry way –to become a rock on a mountain, a crocus in a garden-- pursued by the melodic, reassuring warmth represented in the musical rendition of the mother bunny and culminating in a lovely, moving, harmonious finale as the bunny returns home to the absolute safety of his mother’s furry paws.
Like Peter and the Wolf, this beloved children’s classic becomes richer and more thrilling as we hear the bunny’s story resonate in the marvelous musical composition of Glen Roven’s The Runaway Bunny.
Some Quotes about "The Runaway Bunny" by Glen Roven
One of this offering's agendas is to introduce children to the joys and richness of the symphony orchestra. To put this into a larger perspective, this offering is, in its own way, on the exalted level of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf , or Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. I found the music coupled with Brooke Shields's narration deeply moving.William Zagorski, FANFARE MAGAZINE
I loved this! Somehow Glen Roven has managed to transform the magic of an impish little bunny and a deeply caring mother from words on the page to notes in the air. It's one of those rare pieces of art that captivates kids and parents. Brilliant!
-Sally, co-host "Walking on Air with Betsy and Sal" WGN CHICAGO
Initially I thought I was going to be jealous of children because they have this brand new classic, but then I realised that one doesn't have to be a child to enjoy "The Runaway Bunny." Glen Roven has created a new masterpiece that is destined to entertain and enthral children in the tradition of such classics as "Peter & The Wolf." I suggest you pick up a copy whether you have a child or not.
Peter Anthony Holden, CJAD TORONTO