BaL 21.04.18 - Bernstein: Candide

[Stanfordian]

Just ordered it to supplement (supplant?) my Bernstein DG. But not replace - I don't want to do without 'Nothing more than this'.

No rain of insults here for the twofer format yet?? 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!

With all its flaws, that are regularly pointed out (I'm doing it my self now), Candide can be a marvellous experience when seen live. I saw it live at in 2014 at Schiller Theater, Berlin and it was gloriously entertaining.

Listening on my car radio in the baking heat the Bruckner 7 extract from Leipzig/Nelson felt about as fluid as a battle ship being pulled manually up a ship canal. In Brahms violin sonata played by Tasmin Little her instrument sounded piercingly bright and even so slightly sour in tone. Yet the presenters commented on the richness of tone.

[mikealdren]

It was successul as a twofer, largely because Edward Seckerson had a lot to say and time to say it, interesting how it was over an hour again and for so few recordings. I bet Brahms 1 doesn't get as long (unless it's another twofer)

[HighlandDougie]

Listening on my car radio in the baking heat the Bruckner 7 extract from Leipzig/Nelson felt about as fluid as a battle ship being pulled manually up a ship canal.

Oh dear, it's not that bad, really. I think a cool room, a decent sound system and may be a large G and T then try again.

[ardcarp]

It was successful as a twofer, largely because Edward Seckerson had a lot to say and time to say it,

Er. It could all be summed up rather succinctly. Treat it as a Broadway show and not as an operaetta. Bernstein's mistake in later life...as with his 'disastrous' West Side Story recording.
They were clearly luxuriating in the generous time-span. I looked at my watch 15 mins into BAL, and they had only just finished umming and ahhing about the overture.
I hate all twofers. Sorry.

[teamsaint]

Oh dear, it's not that bad, really. I think a cool room, a decent sound system and may be a large G and T then try again.

Not really much that can go wrong with that plan..

[Dave2002]

A simple but excellent plan......

... which can probably be easily assimilated.

Weren't there more recordings discussed and with excerpts than in the list near the top of this thread?

Also I noted the comment that the London recordings exist in two versions - one a DVD and one a CD, with the performance on the DVD version being significantly better - that's (the CD) probably the one with the viruses mentioned upstream.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I have the original Broadway version - couldn't imagine it without Barbara Cook or Max Adrian.

One thing that particularly struck me in Barbara Cook's "Glitter and be gay" was the way she emphatically aspirated all the twiddles and noodles so they came across clearly as forced laughter (Ha-ha, ha-ha!).
'Respectable' operatic sopranos seem to carry across the principle that such aspiration is very bad style in coloratura. Does the score (libretto) actually write the aitches in??

[Constantbee]

Interesting points made today about purchasing trends. A couple of points I felt should have been covered were:

Data mining probably makes it a whole lot quicker and easier to gather statistical information about purchasing trends from people downloading recordings than collecting data from people buying physical media.

Also there are probably big regional differences in the platforms used for listening to music. Densely populated urban areas are full of people on the move, mostly young or of working age, public transport users, commuters, people going out, listening to music on mobile devices in crowded places where it’s preferable to carry as little as possible around with you. Unsurprisingly, they’re downloading. In suburban and rural areas the classical music buying public tends to be older and more sedentary, on the whole. The listening experience is quite different.

The online second hand market wasn’t touched on at all. Don’t know where I’d be without it.

[Stanfordian]

Oh dear, it's not that bad, really. I think a cool room, a decent sound system and may be a large G and T then try again.

Hiya Duggie,

I was meaning the Bruckner performance felt heavy and laboured not the sound quality.

[HighlandDougie]

Hiya Duggie,

I was meaning the Bruckner performance felt heavy and laboured not the sound quality.

I'm not sure that a car radio (unless it's one of those posh ones by B&O, Meridian, B&W etc) would reveal the full subtleties of what I would describe as, "measured", rather than laboured (you can tell that I'm an LGO/Nelsons fan in Bruckner), hence my reference to a decent sound system. Definitely a G & T, tho', as an accompaniment to a listen of the full symphony - I can't promise that you'll like the performance any better but at least the tinkle of the ice cubes should be a more agreeable sound than heavy traffic on the M6 or wherever.

[Nick Armstrong]

Not really much that can go wrong with that plan..

[DracoM]

I'm afraid I turned it off: ES's stream of swooning superlatives was IMO emetic.

[vinteuil]

I'm afraid I turned it off: ES's stream of swooning superlatives was IMO emetic.

... ah, you won't, then, have been able to count the number of times he said "As Bernstein told me... " - "As Lenny said to me... "
....


.

[Stanfordian]

I'm afraid I turned it off: ES's stream of swooning superlatives was IMO emetic.

I agree, it's hard to get past those lingual excesses.

[Bobinet]

Seckerson also repeated once too often the 'slowing down' of Bernstein between his two versions, which I do agree is a problem in this piece, but I suspect this was a general thing for his later recordings, not just in Candide (and not just him - there are others who put on weight and slip down a gear or three in their final years).