Summary Of The Youtube Concert 'Overture To Candide'

At 9:00 on the 20th of October, Director Leonard Bernstein began the opening act to the YouTube Concert, the “Overture to Candide”, with an abrupt introduction, cutting in the London Symphony Orchestra before the applause had even died down. Following the first movement, Bernstein and the London Symphony took a leave of absence, replaced by Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra to perform Dvorak’s Humeresque, heard clear over the clatter of the IHop Express. Bernstein then returned, this time accompanied by the Orchestra National de France, to finish the event with La Valse, written by Maurice Ravel. The entire night composed of a wonderful harmony of pieces, perfectly orchestrated for a class assignment. Bernstein’s sudden start to the night was not unplanned,

A slow timpani beat set the pulse, and the rest of the orchestra entered instrument by instrument to build the melody. La Valse lived up to its translated name of “The Waltz”, as the melody weaved a dance from the music. The upper registers swirled, with the melody rising and falling in volume with each measure. The lower voices pulsed the steady dance beat, keeping the other instruments in line. Just like a dancer passing from person to person, the melody was passed from instrument to instrument, each getting their turn to be the center of the ball. The movement as a whole also followed a wavelike flow of volume and energy, slowly rising in volume and incorporating features such as glissandos and harsher instruments, before quickly falling back down. Each “wave” throughout the piece was shorter and reached higher than the previous, continuing this pattern until the very end of the piece. With the single wave of the conductor’s arms and 3 stuttered notes from the orchestra, the concert came to an end as abrupt as its beginning. The audience erupted in applause before the final notes had even begun to fade from the concert