If one needed any more evidence as to the raw popularity of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, they had only to wade through the diverse crowd in the Tennessee Theatre lobby and partake of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s performance of it this past weekend. The extended and deserved ovation at the end spoke volumes. That is not to say that there aren’t naysayers in the musical world that find the cantata-like work overly obvious and musically simplistic. In truth, it is that simplicity of form and portrayal of universal fate that makes the work so accessible—and immensely popular with a “crossover” audience. And, it is that crossover effect that brings a sizable and varied crowd to the concert hall whenever and wherever it is performed.
First performed in 1937, Carmina Burana is a dramatic cantata for chorus, children’s chorus, three soloists, and a full orchestra, structured in three acts along with an identical opening and closing movement, the all too familiar O Fortuna. Orff had come across the texts of the Codex Buranus, a collection of 11th–13th Century irreverent writings by young student clerics, and was attracted to its bawdy poems of eroticism, drinking and gambling, and lustful yearnings for spring. Selecting 24 of the poems as the basis, Orff matched them with music that varies wildly in style, rhythm, and melody, including quasi-chants and choruses, intriguing vocal solos, and a driving energy that often seems like a musical metaphor.
With Maestro Aram Demirjian in command on the podium, the combined forces achieved a remarkable balance of color, energetic intensity, and subtleties of dynamics and all-important pacing. As the choral force, the Knoxville Choral Society offered up their usual focus and clarity of diction that went a long way toward making the mostly-Latin text understandable. Of course, the projected supertitles didn’t hurt.
The children’s choir was the Knoxville Symphony Youth Choir, a relatively recent addition to the KSO’s stable of ensembles. The Youth Choir was nicely prepared by its director, Erin Johnson, while the KCS was under its director, John Orr.
All three of the soloists were making their debut with the KSO. The baritone role has the bulk of the solo material in Carmina Burana and Alex Desocio certainly made a case for a return invitation to a Knoxville concert hall or theatre. Desocio at once showed off a rich smoothness throughout a remarkably lofty range that includes a surprising transition-less falsetto contrasted with an absolutely solid low end.
Also delightfully surprising was tenor Brian Giebler who handled the brief “roasted Swan” brilliantly, delivering the extreme high range with a perfect blend of altitude and edge, not to mention a bit of comedy just from walking on from the wings. Soprano Ashley Fabian brought the contrasting side of amorousness with a delivery that was the essence of dramatic elegance. Her warm, lyrical take and effortless high end was the perfect vocal storytelling match to Desocio.
Happily, if you were one of those listeners on the fence about Orff’s Carmina Burana before, Demirjian and his excellent forces probably changed your mind in the best possible way.
A work by American contemporary Carlos Simon, Fate Now Conquers, opened the evening’s program and the evening’s tussle with the idea of fate. Simon took the title from a phrase in The Iliad that had found its way into Beethoven’s writings. Admittedly, the suggestions of “fate” never really surface, at least for most listeners. That said, one does come away with suggestions of conflict and resolution, not necessarily an inappropriate reward for this intellectual piece.
Following the Simon came Samuel Barber’s Symphony in One Movement, a work written in 1936—the same time period as Orff’s Carmina— and revised in 1942. Frankly, I am certain I’ve never heard this work in Knoxville, so its inclusion here was notable. In his preface remarks to the evening, Maestro Demirjian stressed that the work defines the idea of Romanticism, but one can easily go a step more and suggest its thematic similarity to classic film scores, especially American adventure movies of the era, swashbucklers and all. The KSO players seemed to delight in this work, fully buying into the need for sweeping emotion and breathless movement. Although Barber’s own notes refer to its “…synthetic treatment of four-movement classical symphony,” listeners are taken on a somewhat different journey, it seems, one that feels expressionistic in its flights of emotion. A highlight of this performance was an Andante tranquillo theme by the oboe and muted strings, offered up with a clear lyrical poignance by Principal Oboe Claire Chenette.
