'74 CANDIDE Broadway Cast recording

[Flahooley]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 4:36pm

I just finished listening to the '74 Broadway Cast Recording of CANDIDE. I LOVE IT!!!

For years I've heard how awful it is, but I found myself really enjoying it.

It didn't make me forget Barbara Cook; but it does have a lets-not-take-ourselves-too-seriously tone that is so much fun.

Am I in the minority on this one?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 4:38pm

It's valuable for preserving the anarchic feel of the revival, but I think in terms of its musicality, it's execrable.

[Flahooley]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 4:43pm

I rather liked the raw, amateurish but spirited performance of the score.

I guess I am in the minority on this one.


Updated On: 7/18/06 at 04:43 PM

[devonian.t]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 5:12pm

I think Candide is always in trouble when people take it too seriously. For this reason I love the DVD concert recording- just about the funniest concert I've ever seen.

I love the 74 recording for its robust, bouncy, lusty looseness. It allows me to use one of my favourite words, too: ribald!

I'm with you- it captures the spirit of Voltaire!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 5:21pm

If I want the spirit of Voltaire, I'll read the book. But at least in sitting down to listen to the music, is it a crime to hear it sung and played properly? I think the '74 recording will soon outlive its novelty for you, Flahooley, and you'll return to the '56 original, or one of the other better sung versions out there.

[Flahooley]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 5:22pm

True, devonian.t. To me, the most painful recording is the one Bernstein conducted, not a shred of humor or playfulness.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 5:31pm

Smaxie- in the original French, I hope.

Bernstein worked on 'Candide' because he liked the source material. Certain directors approach his music like it belongs in a museum. Look at the way opera singers kill 'West Side Story'!

I've been listening to my double album on vinyl for years- I doubt I'll get fed up with it.

Perhaps it is a metter of taste whether you prefer singing actors or acting singers?

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 5:37pm

Usually, I'll take acting singers...but not with this score. Erie Mills performed a hilarious "Glitter and Be Gay" at City Opera, so I know it's possible to have both.

[Flahooley]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 5:40pm

I could never stop loving the '56 version. It is the best of all possible recordings.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 8:24pm

At least according to the (somewhat notorious) Joan Peyser bio, Bernstein hated the 1974 production. Of course, he later approved that "final revised version," which also makes nonsense of the score in some ways.

Though the 1974 production was certainly fun, I don't listen to it much. I'm glad, though, that Lewis J. Stadlen's brilliant performance is preserved so completely, especially since he was gone from the show by the time it was filmed for TOFT. Charles Kimbrough was good, but he wasn't Stadlen.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/18/06 at 11:56pm

This is the version comning on CD at the end of August. I know many people who saw the production have been asking Sony to reissue it so I hope it sells well. It is fun and it has the entire show including dialogue.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 7/19/06 at 1:51am

Just listened to a CD transfer I have of this for the first time in a long time. The last couple of times I tried to listen to it, I couldn't get into it. but this time it really reminded me of what a joy the production was. The brilliance of Stadlen and Gable really comes across and everyone is delightful, even if some of the singing isn't all that good. Actually, most of the singing is pretty decent, except for Brennan's high notes in GaBG. The reduced orchestrations are really the musical weakness.

After how horrible it's usually been at City Opera (of course, that expansion of this version is not an improvement textually), it's good to again hear the 1974 production so
well-captured on disc. Stadlen and Gable were just so funny.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 7/19/06 at 8:04am

I was lucky enough to have seen this production and it's what made me fall in love with the show and the score ... the first time I had experienced it that I found it funny. Even though Cook's is the definitive "Glitter," Maureen Brennan in performance was an absolute delight (I agree that he vocals only heard leave something to be desired.)

As for the reduced orchestra, shouldn't you New Yorkers all be used to that by now? The fourteen players in that recording are all you guys seem to get in the pit these days.

[Flahooley]

Posted: 7/19/06 at 5:45pm

It is coming out on CD? I AM HAPPY!!!!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 9:54am

I agree that the 1974 recording is not the best sung but I have a friend who knows Maureen Brennan and he told me that they did the recording in one day. Whoever was at the helm chose to record "Glitter and Be Gay" at the end of the long day. Ms. Brennan was vocally wiped and told my friend that she was heartbroken that this recording was the one that would be preserved forever.

I saw this revival twice and had a blast!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 7/20/06 at 11:51am

If memory serves, it played the Broadway & there were tables & chairs in the orchestra

I saw it & in a record purge sold the LP years ago