The Dong with a Luminous Nose & Ravel's Mother Goose
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
Sir Mark Elder, conductor
Blaise Déjardin, cello
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
James Burton, conductor
RAVEL Mother Goose (complete)
Elena LANGER The Dong with a Luminous Nose, for cello, chorus, and orchestra (American premiere; BSO co-commission) Commissioned by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Andris Nelsons, Music Director, through the generous support of the Arthur P. Contas Commissioning Fund.
Intermission
DVOŘÁK The Noonday Witch
JANÁČEK Sinfonietta
This week's performances by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus are supported by the Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky Fund for Voice and Chorus.
Thursday evening's concert is supported by Patricia Romeo-Gilbert, in memory of Paul B. Gilbert.
Friday afternoon’s concert and soloist Blaise Déjardin are supported by the Elfers family.
Eminent English conductor Sir Mark Elder returns to Symphony Hall for the first time since 2011 to lead a program full of whimsy, fantasy, and folklore. Opening the program, Maurice Ravel’s Mother Goose ballet score began as a suite of children’s piano pieces, each movement illustrating an iconic tale. Next is the American premiere of Elena Langer’s The Dong with a Luminous Nose, a setting of Edward Lear’s delightful “nonsense poem” written for the BSO and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which gave the first performance in March 2023 featuring BSO principal cello Blaise Déjardin as soloist with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Antonín Dvořák’s The Noonday Witch is based on a much darker Czech folktale. Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s energetic, masterful Sinfonietta closes the concert.
The Friday Preview on March 15 will be given by Elena Langer and Robert Kirzinger, Director of Program Publications. The talk will begin at 12:15pm, and admission included with concert ticket.
Thursday's performance will end around 9:30pm, Friday's performance will end around 3:30pm, and Saturday's performance will end around 10pm.
Performance Details
Mar 14, 2024, 7:30pm EDT
Program Notes & Works
Mother Goose (complete)
Ravel rejoiced in animals and children, and many of his works reflect a soul brought to life by fantasy, fable, exotic places, and romanticized history.
The Dong with a Luminous Nose
Langer's characterful setting of Victorian poet-artist Edward Lear’s The Dong with a Luminous Nose benefits from her considerable experience as an opera composer.
The Noonday Witch
Dvořák’s symphonic poem The Noonday Witch relates the tragic consequences of a mother’s invoking the title character inadvertently as a threat to calm her misbehaving child.
Sinfonietta
Czech composer Leoš Janáček's 1926 Sinfonietta, part of his remarkable late-life productivity, includes fanfares for an enormous brass section with timpani and employs melodies and dance rhythms of his native land.
