Candide Suite for Orchestra
Andrew Grams, conductor
These season finale concerts hold the ESO premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide Suite, part of a worldwide celebration of the 100th anniversary of his birth.(#BernsteinAt100) Candide is an operetta based on a novella by Voltaire. The work was not well-received by audience and critics at its 1959 premiere, but it is now a beloved standard of the theatrical repertoire. Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 was written after he suffered a life-threatening hemorrhage. It conveys a dazzling array of emotions. The fourth movement of this symphony, Adagietto, may be the most famous of all his works. It was written as a love song to his wife, Alma, whom he met and married during the composition of the piece. Leonard Bernstein conducted the Adagietto at the funeral mass of Robert F. Kennedy on June 8, 1968, and it was featured in the 1971 movie Death in Venice. The exuberant finale is a fitting conclusion to the exciting 2017-2018 season.
