This concert of American music raced out of the blocks with a dashing and athletic performance of Leonard Bernstein's overture to his opera Candide. He employs a large orchestra, with a big body of strings and percussion, very deftly in this delightful pot pourri of operatic themes. American conductor Andrew Litton carefully built up the tension for the final crescendo, based on of Cunegonde's showpiece aria Glitter and Be Gay, which whirled into an exhilarating climax. In five minutes it displays many of the qualities that we love about American music - tunefulness, energy, generosity of spirit, lack of pretension and a certain musical wit.
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