Carmina Burana (& More) @ Dallas Symphony Orchestra
—Wayne Lee Gay
Despised by musicologists and academics but adored by audiences, Carl Orff's secular cantata Carmina Burana returns, as it does every few years, to the stage of the Meyerson Symphony Center this weekend. This time it's paired with its less popular sequel, Catulli Carmina, in performances by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of music director Fabio Luisi.
The popularity of Carmina Burana, composed in Nazi Germany in 1938, is easily understood; in spite of its detractors (and the approval of the Nazi regime, though there's nothing actually fascist about the text) the work has much to commend it. Set to a clever arrangement of vernacular Medieval texts, it romps tunefully and irreverently through the joys of drinking, eating, gambling, and sex with unpretentious humor. Though it's been accused of lacking meaning, its underlying theme is profound and eternal: fortune is fickle, life is short, so enjoy. Repetitious and fragmentary, the straightforward episodic structure culminates in one of the finest climaxes in the concert repertoire, creating a never-fail thrill at its penultimate moment.
It's also a sure-fire box office draw, as evidenced by the four nearly full houses anticipated this weekend. Any competent orchestra, conductor, and chorus can make a good show of it, and Luisi, a master of musical momentum and choral-orchestral synthesis, guides the massed forces (including the Dallas Symphony Children's Chorus, Ellie Lin, artistic director) with steady forward impetus. As always, the Dallas Symphony Chorus itself (in this case trained by guest artist Anthony Blake Clark) matches the superb acoustic of the concert hall with voluminous waves of sound and astounding subtleties.
Orff's score is not so kind to vocal soloists, who have the most difficult and, in some ways, most rewarding moments. Sean Michael Plumb's sonorous baritone reverberates nicely as he shifts from drunkard to Medieval con man to lover. Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo pulls off, with panache, the infamously difficult and darkly hilarious song of the roasting swan. Soprano Audrey Luna owns the challenging range demanded while playing the role of a woman surrendering to the entreaties of an eager lover.
Luisi prefaces Carmina Burana with Catulli Carmina, a work based on the explicitly erotic texts of the Roman poet Catullus, who flourished about fifty years before the birth of Christ.
For various and obvious reasons, Catullli Carmina has never enjoyed the widespread popularity of Carmina Burana. The orchestra for the work consists only of eight pianos and a large entourage of percussionists—a colorful, and unique configuration, but one not entirely comfortable within a symphonic series. For that matter, much of the work is for unaccompanied chorus, challenging for all but the most expert choral ensembles.
The text, mostly in classical Latin (with a smattering of Greek and Italian) is appealingly bawdy and effectively combines passion with cynicism. However, so explicit is the text that for years it was generally not translated for live audiences or on record jackets and liner notes—a definite barrier to audiences who want to know what they're hearing.
In this case, folks in charge at the DSO provide a bowdlerized version of the text in the translation projected above the stage, while still conveying the bawdy content. For the benefit of the curious, here are a few of the lines which, in keeping with community standards, are not entirely accurately translated:
O tuae mammulae dulciter turgidae . . .
Penipeniculus velus pisciculus qui desiderat tuam fonticulam
Test your high school Latin or look it up at https://mojim.com/usy139044x3x6.htm
The vocal solo parts provide the greatest challenges here, bravely handled by tenor Herbert Lippert and soprano Luna; the chorus and accompanying ensemble provide their share of excitement under conductor Luisi. Still, Catulli Carmina is not likely to win a place in repertoire comparable to Carmina Burana, and the same flaws of repetition and fragmentary structure that draw criticism in Carmina Burana exist in even greater proportion in Catulli Carmina. It is, however, definitely worthwhile to experience a rare live performance of Catulli Carmina (as was the case for me Thursday night); as with its sister cantata Carmina Burana, snippets and bits of Catulli Carmina will doubtless continue to turn up frequently in commercials and movie scores.
WHEN: May 12-14
WHERE: Meyerson Symphony Center, Dallas Arts District
WEB: dallassymphony.org
