And the sonorous instruments filled the soaring phrases of "Make Our Garden Grow".
He faces a greater challenge from John Corigliano's taut arrangement of "Make Our Garden Grow," the anthemlike finale to "Candide".
It segued into a grand, summary showpiece: "Make Our Garden Grow" (from "Candide"), in which Ms. Cook was joined by Kelli O'Hara, Sebastian Arcelus and a large chorus.
Also included are the sparkling "Candide" Overture, "Mambo" from "West Side Story" and some shorter violin arrangements, including "Lonely Town" and "Make Our Garden Grow".
In the concert's grand chorale finale, "Make Our Garden Grow," from "Candide," the two Bernsteins leaned across the fence and clasped each other in a bearhug of mutual appreciation.
So on Saturday afternoon the company dedicated the first performance of its new production of Massenet's "Cendrillon" to Sills, adding a musical tribute at the end of the opera: a performance onstage of "Make Our Garden Grow," from Bernstein's "Candide".
Even the Boston Symphony, conducted in its turn by Seiji Ozawa, played mostly material that would have been at home in a Pops concert: "Remembrances" from Mr. Williams's music for "Schindler's List," with Gil Shaham as violin soloist; "Make Our Garden Grow," from Bernstein's "Candide," with Cynthia Haymon, Gregory Turay and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus; and "La Valse" by Ravel.
Listen carefully to these clips of "Make Our Garden Grow" from 1956's Candide and "Our Time" from 1981's Merrily We Roll Along and you'll hear what I'm talking about.
As the enormous cast stands downstage and exhorts us to "Make Our Garden Grow," the orchestra drops out, and all those voices, those beautiful voices, lift up to the roof of the little Rose, and our hearts lift right along with them.
In time, it will spread out from there, but if we make our gardens wild flower hot spots, then at least we know things aren't disappearing at quite such a rate.
