Customer Reviews

Bernstein: Candide

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One runs out of superlatives trying to describe this, one of Bernstein's last projects as conductor. One of his greatest scores, "Candide" has many memorable musical numbers, and here it is almost ideally cast, brimming with great singing, a terrific orchestra and all in wonderfully realistic sound.

Jerry Hadley's beautiful, plaintive voice is ideal here, whether with June Anderson in "Oh Happy We" or by himself in the somber "It Must Be So." Anderson also makes short work of the dazzling "Glitter and Be Gay," one of Bernstein's all time crowd pleasers. And some of the "minor" roles are perfectly cast, such as Adolph Green and Christa Ludwig, the latter especially charming as The Old Lady in the glorious "I Am Easily Assimilated." Even the chorus sounds magnificent, such as in the hilarious "What a Day (For An Auto-Da-Fe)" and climactic "What's the Use."

The original cast recording is a classic, and of course has the great Barbara Cook in her prime. But this one might be considered a gift from its composer/conductor, with its strong cast, terrific sound, and inspired direction by one of the greatest conductors (and composers) ever.

When Leonard Bernstein tried to be a "serious" composer, the results were only pretentious. When he wrote "light" music, the results were wonderful and original. In Candide, he is really the great composer Leonard Bernstein. And the great conductor too - he and his cast are unbeatable. I don't care what the Broadway standards are for length of a musical, all the music in this cds is valuable, belongs to the piece and should be heard every time this show is given.

The first Bernstein show I saw/heard was West Side Story, which everyone is familiar with.

It wasn't until last autumn that I started to listen to "Candide". To-day, it's my favorite musical/operetta, and nothing can compare to it!
My friend and I, we study music together, are both great fans of this masterpiece. I really love it!
I haven't heard any recordings but this one, but nothing could be done better in this production.
The singers are very good, especially Cunegonde. The guy who sings Pangloss isn't a very good singer, but anyway he is perfect for the role.

Since almost everyone owns a CD burner now, it's possible to compile a hybrid performance that merges the classic 1956 original cast recording (Sony) with this very complete DG performance from 1989, which features Bernstein conducting nearly every delicious bit he composed for the show over a period of three decades. Candide is the sum of original inspiration and a lot of mixed after-thoughts.

I mention this recourse becasue for all its virtues--this is a well-reocrded set with alert conducting from Bernstein (without the extra fat he added to his semi-operatic West Side Story with Te Kanawa and Carreras) the weakest thing here are the two leads. Jerry Hadley has a gorgeous voice, but he applies a layer of ersatz emotion carried over from the Met, and June Anderson is even more the crossover diva who never lets us forget that she was born to sing Norma, not Cunegonde.

They are so inferior to the brilliant Barbara Cook and Robert Rounseville on the original-cast album that I hit upon the idea of a hybrid performance. Keep all of the 1956 selections and splice in additional music from this set in proper sequence. It doesn't make for perfection, because after decades of tinkering with the score, allowing Broadway babies Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim to hang ugly tinsel on it, Bernstein includes some trashy numbers (the text of the opening quartet is a cringe-worthy Sondheim addition) and revives some inferior discards from the original score.

Even so, the finished hybrid product is very satisfying, much greater than the sum of its parts. One gets to hear a classic show saved by the skin of its teeth when Columbia producer Goddard Lieberson decided to make a cast recording of a flop, with the addition of brilliant music that never got into that first album. This DG performance gets 4 stars, the hybrid 5 stars.

I would have given this 5 stars if I had not listened to the 1956 version first. The advantage this has over the 1956 recording is that it gives you more songs. Jerry Hadley does a great job as Candide, and anything where he has center stage is excellent. Also, the liner notes are worth having. However, June Anderson does not compare to Barbara Cook's Cunegonde, and Irma Pettina is much better as the Old Lady than Christa Ludwig. I also prefer the 1956 version of The Best of All Possible Worlds to the version in this recording. And while having the extra songs is nice, you really don't miss much not having them in the other recording. That being said, this is a very good recording to have in your collection.

I bought this disc especially for the final piece "make our garden grow." Due to the death of a family Siberian Husky, my dad began to plant a small garden of wild flowers upon which we will spread some of her ashes. I wanted to put together a cd for my parents and brother that I felt characterized our beloved dog. Anyway, I heard this finale done on TV at a Richard Tucker gala and very much enjoyed it. However, I am terribly disappointed in June Anderson's wobbly, wiry singing. AND, it was the text that I really was looking for to fill the bill, but you can't understand any of it! It's like Joan Sutherland on a really bad mush mouth day, but without her beautiful voice and warmth of tone. Thus, Make Our Garden Grow sounds more like "mee mow arin oh" Damnit!
The rest of the cast is great and I very much enjoy the work. Anderson is the debit.

I've had this 2 CD set (an earlier pressing of it, actually) for well over 10 years and I STILL listen to it regularly. Lately I've become a huge fan of the second half, especially "What's the Use", a comic waltz.

I've heard other recordings (my Dad had the 1956 cast recording on LP for years), but this is my favorite.

I've made highlights-only tapes for my friends to listen to in the hopes they'd become fans and buy the CDs. They found the music unlistenable. Unlistenable? UNLISTENABLE? Primitive heathens! Be gone, uncultured swine!