Well, I found it second hand so I bought it.  Took me a long time to
realise I was not listening to a tragedy.  It starts off bad then gets
worse and worse.  People start dying left right and centre, some more than
once.  Bernstein's music often seems to be amplifying the wierdness e.g.
the hanging of Pangloss seems almost the most buoyant moment of the piece.
And the battle music was derived from the most tuneful of the themes in
the Overture.  But somehow it all made 'sense' with the final line sung
by Pangloss:  'Any Questions?' At last I was allowed to HAVE questions.
The booklet does not really help you.

Just one thing about the performance annoyed me.  Adolph Green.  He isn't
a 'real' singer is he? A kind of My Fair Lady, half sing, half say the
notes with a very distinctive accent.  Clearly a good performer but what
an annoying voice.

Anyway I presume the whole thing was an exercise in irony was it not?  If
so, Bernstein was very successful.  Does anyone actually find it funny?
or just wierd?

David Stewart
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