CANDIDE (1991)

Celebrating the Leonard Bernstein Centennial. For the latest re-release of this composer conducted version of Bernstein’s brilliant, if flawed masterpiece, Deutsche-Grammophon have brought together the 1989 studio recording and the live concert event that preceded it (2 CDs/1 DVD). Even with an outbreak of the flu, the concert version is the better bet in all but sound balance, with the grandiosity Bernstein brought to just about everything in his final years, partially tamed by the excitement of working in front of an audience. Some things still move at near practice tempo, but there’s far more momentum. And while it has the operatic inflation of Lenny’s infamous (and bizarrely miscast) studio recording of WEST SIDE STORY, this cast is pretty wonderful (with subtitles to clear up diction from the chorus and high flying sopranos). Also, the operetta style of the piece has less trouble handling the Bernstein bloat. Normally sparing with tunes, Bernstein’s a positive spendthrift here, inspired by Voltaire’s wild ride thru a series of picaresque disasters, as characters die & pop back to life in exciting adventures & fresh lands as naive Candide learns life’s painful lessons and finally matures. His musical response miraculous. (Even better than his WONDERFUL TOWN, which takes some doing.) And what a thrilling climax at the end when the orchestra drops out for a choral peroration in ‘Make Our Garden Grow.’ Jerry Hadley is a nonpareil Candide (looks just right, too), while vet singers Christa Ludwig & Nicolai Gedda (a man with perfect diction in six languages) grab every laugh. Book troubles have been the bane of this remarkable show since Lillian Hellman wrote the original problematic script (Richard Wilbur, with the lion’s share of lyrics, had no such problems). But this concert version, from a rewrite by Hugh Wheeler, works pretty well. But the score’s the thing. Best served in the Original Cast Recording of 1956, abridged, of course, but still sounding well. And definitely not at practice tempo!

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Lenny’s rep as composer is far stronger now than it was during his lifetime. Perhaps the lack of critical respect partially explains some of his more ponderous tempos. Serious tempos for a composer who wanted his work to be taken seriously.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: If only Steven Spielberg & (especially radical/intellectual/over-thinking playwright) Tony Kusher had dared to take on Lenny’s CANDIDE (dying for a proper film treatment) rather than going for the easy win with their announced WEST SIDE STORY remake.