UMich Symphony Band -Leonard Bernstein - Overture to Candide

University of Michigan Symphony Band
Overture to Candide
Leonard Bernstein (arr. Walter Beeler)
Conductor: Michael Haithcock

February 6, 2015
Hill Auditorium,
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI

[arev]

What a beautiful rendition of this overture!!! Seems like symphonic band is giving more justice than the original orchestral version

[BruceRichardsonMusic]

So well played. In particular, sometimes wind bands can't quite achieve the dynamic shapes that an orchestra can on this piece. In particular, the last "glitter" section leading up to the ending, they hit the three distinct dynamic levels that make that section work. I've heard many wind ensembles fail to differentiate them as clearly. Bravo.

[paul-zxdu]

E-flat sopranino clarinet nailed it. Amazing intonation.

[dannysampson]

We did this at my school, best thing we ever performed

[ChipsAplentyBand]

The arranger of this wind ensemble version of Bernstein's OVERTURE TO CANDIDE, the late Walter Beeler, was a longtime faculty member at Ithaca College's (Ithaca, NY) School of Music where he played Euphonium and conducted the Concert Band. Beeler was reputedly an 'old school, ' demanding conductor and stickler for his students acquiring both facile technique and musical sensibility under his tutelage. I marticulated at Ithaca College in 1974, just two years after Beeler had died, as a Euphonium player myself and I studied the instrument under Beeler's successor, Tubist James H. Linn, and playedstudied under Conductor Edward J.Gobrecht, Jr., who took Beeler's place leading the Concert Band. Other fine transcriptions of the Overture have been prepared by others as well and Beeler's transcription, which I played myself during college, sounds a bit 'heavier' overall than some of the other versions, although the Woodwind writing, which takes over the bulk of the Violin duty from Bernstein's original, sounds very much the same in every transcription I've heard to date. I sometimes wonder if Bernsten ever heard any of the Wind Band transcriptions of this sparkling piece himself and, if so, if he might have been pleased that so many Band students got to share in the performance of his music as a result. I do think that, whichever transcription is used, the performance benefits in transparency from a smaller vs. a larger ensemble, and this seems appropriate to me given the (lean) size of a typical pit orchestra on Broadway, which was the intended venue for Bernstein's musical.

My congratulations to these University of Michigan students for their fine performance of this music and, if I might also add, for many fine past performances of the music of my former music composition teacher, Karel Husa, as well. Karel was a faculty member at both Ithaca College and Cornell Univeristy for many years and I was lucky to have studied with him at both institutions. He guest conducted all over the world, incuding in all fifty states of the USA, and at the U of Michigan in Ann Arbor specifically a number of times.

Donald Campfield, D.M.A.
November 17, 2024

[justinqrramos]

There are 8 horn players and I still want

[yenyen-cyke]

i was ALMOST going to sleep but one part of the song just jolted me awake like i was awoken from a night mare😨😨😨

[kameron]

that poor Eb clarinet player! Bless his heart

[malcolmkatzen]

I love how well the low trumpets sound in this. They are filling the ensemble so well in the exposed sections.

[muchomango]

Interesting to see this without strings, and the saxophones sounds great!

[geozinc]

My highschool's wind ensemble played this and they were amazing

[PunchCardReader]

👍🏻 The sound recording is superb. + Points to the conductor for the dramatic pauses.

[JohnAckerman]

I played this when I was in college. I was third part clarinet.

[marioalbertohernandez]

Me hubiera gustado tal vez ser norteamericano para tener las oportunidades que ellos tienen.

Soy un viejo pianista mexicano.

[davedonnie]

What hjgh schools do yall go to where you can pull this off 😭

[LowryYT]

E flat clarinet has main character syndrome

[Thebackrooms_owner]

𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓶𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓫𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓼𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓸𝓵 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝔂𝓮𝓭