When Warren Gref asked his friend Joe Waters to write a symphony for the Erle Stanley Gardner Mystery Weekend, about the only thing Waters knew about Gardner was the writer's name.

"Sweet Noire: The Passion of Perry Mason" will debut Nov. 7 at the Old Town Temecula Community Theater in "Music and Dance," the second concert of the California Chamber Orchestra's fifth season.

The concert is one of the activities planned for the Erle Stanley Gardner Mystery Weekend in Old Town.

"I didn't know anything about him 'til they called me," Waters said.

By the time he went through everything the Old Town Temecula Museum could show him about Gardner, by the time he had revisited the Perry Mason series, by the time he had read some of Gardner's writing, Waters had a new respect for Gardner and a clear idea of where he wanted to go with his composition.

While Gardner's books may not be great literature, Gardner never lost sight of his role as an author, of the role his literature could take in reinforcing the need for vigilance in the maintenance of democracy.

"You have the responsibility to infuse your work with a subtext," Waters said.

Gardner knew that and his works carried the message that democracy is flawed by the tendency of power to corrupt.

"We must help keep a balance," Waters said, and that was the role of such Gardner protagonists as Perry Mason, who not only sometimes defended the unjustly accused, but helped keep government honest.

Ironically, it was one of Gardner's nonfiction works about the desert he loved that launched Waters' symphony.

Waters opens his work with Gardner's description of the whisper made by the wind-driven sand striking the desert plants at dusk.

Gref describes the composition as a 30-minute Perry Mason episode in which characters are introduced and developed, the story is laid out, even includes the station breaks.

Waters also discovered in the theater stage manager a veteran of 1970s light shows who was able to bring to the program everything from a light show choreographed with the music to a fog for the noire passages.

The second half of the program will be more familiar and will bring in the dance element. The orchestra will present Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" with its original 13-piece orchestration and its original Martha Graham choreography performed by seven members of the Temecula Dance Company.

The orchestra will be presented in its original 1944 version, said Gref. Gref said the western character of the ballet fits with the theme of the Gardner weekend as well.

"Music and Dance"

Old Town Temecula Community Theater, 42051 Main St., Temecula

7:30 p.m. Nov. 7

$30; $25 65 and older; $12.50 students; $2.50 12 and younger

866-653-8696

temeculatheater.org