{"id":4817,"date":"2018-12-10T09:10:57","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T09:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larkreviews.co.uk\/?p=4817"},"modified":"2018-12-10T09:10:57","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T09:10:57","slug":"lso-candide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/?p=4817","title":{"rendered":"LSO: Candide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barbican Hall, Sunday 9 December 2018<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In this anniversary year for Leonard Bernstein I was really waiting for Candide. <\/em>Often dismissed in its early years as almost impossibly rambling it is now recognised as one of his most important works and last night was given the most consummate staging I can recall.<\/p>\n

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At the helm was Marin Alsop, and we were tactfully reminded, through the overhead screens at the end, that she had worked with Bernstein. If she does not take the work quite as rapidly as he did she nevertheless brings a zip and enthusiasm which carries the narrative forward without any loss of musical finesse.<\/p>\n

Tiny moments \u2013 the pique of the piccolo in the overture, the romantic string melodies and bite of the chorus \u2013 all added up to an evening that did not drop for a second. Added to this, a cast which could surely not be bettered. Jane Archibald\u2019s Cunegonde had the cynicism of the rich coupled with a magnificent coloratura enabling her to throw off Glitter and be gay<\/em> as if it were a walk in the park. Leonardo Capalbo\u2019s Candide moved from a lighter, almost na\u00efve, tone at the start to a weighty helden-tenor in the final scenes.<\/p>\n

Thomas Allen\u2019s Pangloss combined humour with a gently firm characterisation but possibly the surprise of the evening was Anne Sofie von Otter\u2019s remarkably mobile Old Lady \u2013 both physically and vocally. Of the impressive line-up of singers for the numerous smaller parts tenor Thomas Atkins was notable for his virile and very pleasing tone, as well as his warm characterisation.<\/p>\n

The LSO played with wonderful energy for Marin Alsop, and the LSO chorus provided us with a weight of sound unheard in the theatre. I can\u2019t recall Bernstein\u2019s chorus items as well sung before, and their involvement in the evening \u2013 storm movements, Hawaiian shirts and numerous sound effects \u2013 added hugely to the overall impact. Garnett Bruce\u2019s semi-staging was just that, intelligent movement for the soloists, a minimal setting which stood in for ship, coach, stately home, and a close relationship between orchestra, chorus and singers.<\/p>\n

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I would hope to encounter Candide <\/em>again with forces as good as this, but I don\u2019t expect to hear better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barbican Hall, Sunday 9 December 2018 In this anniversary year for Leonard Bernstein I was really waiting for Candide. Often dismissed in its early years as almost impossibly rambling it is now recognised as one of his most important works … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4820,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4817\/revisions\/4820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larkreviews.wickedlemon.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}