9.30
Building a Library: Leonard Bernstein's Candide with Edward Seckerson.
Based on Voltaire's 18th-century satirical novel about the misadventures of the pure-hearted and naive Candide and his much more worldly mate Cunégonde, Leonard Bernstein's 1956 operetta isn't just another Broadway show. It opened during the infamous witch hunts of Senator McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee, which Bernstein and and book author Lillian Hellman had experienced firsthand. So alongside the blend of wit, sophistication and comedy, including brilliant parodies of operatic forms like 'Glitter and be Gay', the references to the Spanish Inquisition - 'What a day, what a day for an auto-da-fe' - and the irony of Candide's mantra that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds give the work a dark undercurrent.
That Candide never had the lasting success he thought it deserved really bugged Bernstein who tinkered with it on-and-off until the end of his life, resulting in multiple versions and the question of which, if any, is definitive.
Available versions:-
Robert Rounseville, Barbara Cook, Max Adrian, Irra Petina, Candide Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (Original Broadway cast recording) (Download)
Jerry Hadley, June Anderson, Adolph Green, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, London Symphony Chorus & Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (CD & DVD versions)
Christa Ludwig, June Anderson, Kurt Ollmann, Simon Joly, Jerry Hadley, Richard Suart, Della Jones, Clive Bayley, Adolph Green, John Treleavan, Neil Jenkins, Lindsay Benson, London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Chorus, Leonard Bernstein
Erie Mills, David Eisler, John Lankston, Joyce Castle, Scott Reeve, Maris Clement, New York City Opera Chorus and Orchestra, John Mauceri
Jerry Hadley, Marjana Lipovsek, Sylvia Koke, Ernst Senff Choir Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, David Steel (D)
Building a Library: Leonard Bernstein's Candide with Edward Seckerson.
Based on Voltaire's 18th-century satirical novel about the misadventures of the pure-hearted and naive Candide and his much more worldly mate Cunégonde, Leonard Bernstein's 1956 operetta isn't just another Broadway show. It opened during the infamous witch hunts of Senator McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee, which Bernstein and and book author Lillian Hellman had experienced firsthand. So alongside the blend of wit, sophistication and comedy, including brilliant parodies of operatic forms like 'Glitter and be Gay', the references to the Spanish Inquisition - 'What a day, what a day for an auto-da-fe' - and the irony of Candide's mantra that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds give the work a dark undercurrent.
That Candide never had the lasting success he thought it deserved really bugged Bernstein who tinkered with it on-and-off until the end of his life, resulting in multiple versions and the question of which, if any, is definitive.
Available versions:-
Robert Rounseville, Barbara Cook, Max Adrian, Irra Petina, Candide Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (Original Broadway cast recording) (Download)
Jerry Hadley, June Anderson, Adolph Green, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, London Symphony Chorus & Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein (CD & DVD versions)
Christa Ludwig, June Anderson, Kurt Ollmann, Simon Joly, Jerry Hadley, Richard Suart, Della Jones, Clive Bayley, Adolph Green, John Treleavan, Neil Jenkins, Lindsay Benson, London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Chorus, Leonard Bernstein
Erie Mills, David Eisler, John Lankston, Joyce Castle, Scott Reeve, Maris Clement, New York City Opera Chorus and Orchestra, John Mauceri
Jerry Hadley, Marjana Lipovsek, Sylvia Koke, Ernst Senff Choir Berlin, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, David Steel (D)
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I thought it worked pretty well with so many difficult issues to air on genre, style, orchestration and of course the numbers performed and in what order. I learned a lot!
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