Search - Leonard Bernstein, London Symphony Orchestra, Adolph Green :: Bernstein Conducts Candide

Best of all Candides in the worst of all possible selections

Cory | Virginia | 07/14/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was very humoured indeed by the Worst of All Possible Worlds song. I had never heard THAT one in the highlights before and it is very funny. The songs, famous or not, are all great. My favorites are the ones you never see on the highlights such as Martin's Laughing Song, El Dorado, and the Roulet song. Many of the tunes are repeated later in the operetta but to different words and slightly different arrangement which just added to the humour. Adolf Green is THE Pangloss. No one can compare to his talent he has with the handling of this character. The music is wonderful (of course it would be, it IS conducted by the composer). One of the best things you won't hear in any other recording (highlights or other) is the grand finale. Bernstein slows it down by about %50 to turn it into one of the most passionate songs in the entire thing. I very highly recommend this recording. I don't just hand out five star ratings either."

Operetta for the late 20th century

J. Enders | Darmstadt | 09/23/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Bernstein's "Candide" is a funny operetta based on the famous novel by Voltaire. The story is about a young man (Candide, Jerry Hadley: superb!) who is about to marry a princess (Kunegonde: June Anderson, very solid performance) in his home country Westphalia. His philosophical teacher's (Pangloss, Adolphe Green: really funny) opinion is that the world is - as it is - the best of all possible worlds. But alas, all of Candide's beloved are killed when war breaks out. Fortunately, this doesn't mean the end for the cast, but a number of resurrections and strange happenings always connect the ways of the characters. Pangloss is executed later on, Candide escapes to Paris, meets his resurrected love (and a strange Old Lady, Christa Ludwig: great), they set sail to America, are separated, Candide finds El Dorado, where gold is everywhere, also in the sheep. On his way back to Europe, he meets a guy who resembles Pangloss but teaches the opposite (the worst of all possible worlds); when his ship sinks, Candide finds himself rowing in a boat with an illustrous round of kings and noblemen, pledging to a simple life and bursting into gambling when arriving in Venice. At the casino in Venice, Candide meets Kunegonde again, and they finally start a (not really completely happy) life. And this would not be a piece by Bernstein, if there was no appeal to the final peaceful good in mankind at the end.The ensemble is great - also the "supporting" characters: Kurt Ollmann, Nicolai Gedda, ... , the jokes superb, the orchestra transparent. However, the recording has one drawback: serious problems with the balance which are clearly a fault of the recording sound engineers. Nonetheless, this CD is very enjoyable. I should mention that there is also a video taken at a public (concertant) performance right after the recording of the CD which is peppered with funny comments and explanations."

Best Candide recording available!

J. Enders | 11/26/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Candide" got my vote for best musical work of the century in the Amazon survey, that's how much I love it and think it raises the bar for opera, operetta, and musical theatre. This recording is (FINALLY!) a comprehensive collection of almost all of the songs written for this show (there have been about a gazillion revisions in its history). I'm no June Anderson fan, but she does a competent job here, as does the rest of the cast (Christa Ludwig deserves special mention for her infectious, adorable Old Lady). I'd say get this album just because it presents a better picture of the full scope of this work than any of the other recordings out there."