9:10 am Guest: Dominique A
In November 2020, the musicians of the Orchester National des Pays de la Loire conducted by Pascal Rophé recorded, at the Angers Congress Center, a masterpiece of children’s music: Pierre et le loup by Prokofiev. It is the singer Dominique A who put his warm voice with an authentic timbre on this universally known story. In November 2021, a poetic CD book, illustrated by the Nantes designer Lili the whale and published by Maison Eliza, is released.
Recorded over 400 times in 12 different languages
In 1935, during a trip to Moscow, Serge Prokofiev attended performances given by the Central Theater for the children of Moscow. These inspired him to compose Twelve Children’s Pieces for Piano, Op. 65. The following year, in 1936, the director of the Central Theater, Nathalie Satz, asked him to compose a symphonic tale for children. Prokofiev, immediately won over by this project, writes both the music and the story of Peter and the Wolf in just one week!
“Peter and the Wolf is a gift not only for the children of Moscow but also for mine,” said the composer, whose youngest son was then 7 years old.
This symphonic tale uses a dynamic cast of characters and a charming story to introduce children to the different instruments of the orchestra. A boy named Pierre walks in nature, and plays with a duck, a bird and a cat who are his friends. Peter’s grandfather berates him for wandering into a place where a wolf might attack and sends him home. From this safe place, Pierre soon sees the predator arrive on the scene. The wolf devours the duck and then threatens the bird and the cat. Determined to outsmart the aggressor, Pierre disobeys. He sneaks out again and manages to catch the animal with the help of the bird and a rope. When hunters arrive on the scene, eager to kill the wolf, Pierre encourages them to agree to be taken to a zoo. And as they all set off in a merry procession, the duck can be heard cackling in the beast’s stomach, “for, in its haste, the wolf had swallowed it entirely.”
The very “visual” music makes it very easy to follow all the adventures of the adventure.
For example, when Peter throws the string to catch the wolf, the violin plays a series of fast, descending notes; when the hunters drag the same wolf to the ground, they are accompanied by glissandi of clarinets, quite ironic and ridiculous; when the poor duck is eaten by the wolf (always him!), its melody is played on the strings with mutes, resounding like a mortuary echo … But as in all tales, all ends well, and the final, energetic march sounds triumphantly with the full orchestra. Thus ends Peter and the Wolf, which from its creation has been acclaimed throughout the world: everywhere people praise the freshness and spontaneity of music. The work was performed for the first time at the Central Theater on May 2, 1936 and immediately met with immense success which continues to this day.
Pierre et le loup told by Dominique A with the musicians of the ONPL in concert
Sunday November 7 at La Cité de Nantes 2:30 p.m. & 4:30 p.m. (Full concerts)
Sunday November 14 at the Angers Congress Center 2:30 p.m. & 4:30 p.m.
Saturday November 13 at the Espace Terre de Sel in La-Barre-de-Monts 8:30 p.m. Saturday November 27 at the Théâtre de Saint-Nazaire 7 p.m.
Sunday November 28 at the Théâtre de Laval 3:15 p.m. & 5 p.m.
In educational concert
Tuesday 9 November at the Cité de Nantes – 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.
Friday November 12 at the Atlantes des Sables d’Olonne 1:45 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. Friday November 26 at the Théâtre de Saint-Nazaire 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Tuesday November 30 at the Angers Congress Center – 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.
9:25 am Bénédicte Déprez’s favorite from the Trait d’union bookstore in Noirmoutier: My genial-logical family published by Père Castor de Magali Le Huche and Gwendoline Raisson.
Sophie, this is my mother-in-law. It’s true that she is beautiful, but I think that even if she was ugly, it would still be my mother-in-law. Because an ugly mother cannot be said.
