Prom 17: Orff’s Carmina burana - 27 July 2023

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Thursday 27 July 2023
Royal Albert Hall

Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Carl Orff: Carmina burana

Mari Eriksmoen soprano
Levy Sekgapane tenor
Germán Olvera baritone
CBSO Youth Chorus
CBSO Chorus
University of Birmingham Voices
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Kazuki Yamada conductor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This would seem to be a good pairing.

[Pulcinella]

This would seem to be a good pairing.

Agreed: I think I said so when the programme first got published (in the general chat thread/topic/whatever we now call it).
Good pieces for orchestral pianists: two pianos in each!

[Serial_Apologist]

This would seem to be a good pairing.

On the contrary, I would think Stravinsky would be rolling in his grave to have had the great Symphony of Psalms programmed coupled with Carmina Burana of all things. Surely this has never been done before?

[oddoneout]

This would seem to be a good pairing.

Not sure I agree - a somewhat extreme take on sacred and profane?

[Pulcinella]

Not sure I agree - a somewhat extreme take on sacred and profane?

Maybe Poulenc's Gloria (also written for Boston, I think) instead?
At least he always conjures up the vision of mischievous monks, so both works would have that in common.

And I might be imagining it, but I have a vague recollection of seeing some praise Stravinsky gave for In trutina.

[Ein Heldenleben]

A “good pairing” in the sense of the vivid contrast between genius and flashy mediocrity? Rather like me playing a Chopin etude.

[smittims]

There's a four-piano-and -percussion version of Carmina Burana which could be paired with Les Noces, or would it be too much of a good thing?

[bluestateprommer]

Not sure I agree - a somewhat extreme take on sacred and profane?

Actually, I'm with Alpie, that this is a good pairing. That very reason of the extreme contrast of 'sacred and profane' is indeed one justification to put the two on the same concert. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Orff was aware of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and took the idea of pianos in the orchdstra from the earlier work. The Indianapolis Symphony is performing the same pairing next February, so the idea certainly isn't new:

https://www.indianapolissymphony.org/event/stravinsky-carmina-burana/

Very interesting to hear the young voices at the very start of the Stravinsky, where I don't recall ever having heard a performance of the Symphony of Psalms with childrens' voices. Kazuki Yamada took rather too lingering a pace in several passages for my taste, almost as if he's trying to over-savor the moment.

Heard Martin Handley say that we're getting a countertenor for the Orff, which sort of defeats the purpose of the song of the roasted swan sounding strained, IMHO. But maybe I'll be surprised, so we'll see. (BTW, MH makes the common mistake of mispronouncing "Carmina", as I understand that the Latin pronunciation should be more like "Carmen-uh" rather than "Car-me-na".)

[Pulcinella]

Actually, I'm with Alpie, that this is a good pairing. That very reason of the extreme contrast of 'sacred and profane' is indeed one justification to put the two on the same concert. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Orff was aware of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and took the idea of pianos in the orchdstra from the earlier work. The Indianapolis Symphony is performing the same pairing next February, so the idea certainly isn't new:

https://www.indianapolissymphony.org/event/stravinsky-carmina-burana/

Very interesting to hear the young voices at the very start of the Stravinsky, where I don't recall ever having heard a performance of the Symphony of Psalms with childrens' voices. Kazuki Yamada took rather too lingering a pace in several passages for my taste, almost as if he's trying to over-savor the moment.

Heard Martin Handley say that we're getting a countertenor for the Orff, which sort of defeats the purpose of the song of the roasted swan sounding strained, IMHO. But maybe I'll be surprised, so we'll see. (BTW, MH makes the common mistake of mispronouncing "Carmina", as I understand that the Latin pronunciation should be more like "Carmen-uh" rather than "Car-me-na".)

The score does in fact say:

The choir should contain children's voices, which may be replaced by female voices (soprano and alto) if a children's choir is not available.

I've no idea what happened at the premiere.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Is it just me or is the chorus not quite with the band in the Carmina ? They sound a tad tentative…

[Pulcinella]

Is it just me or is the chorus not quite with the band in the Carmina ? They sound a tad tentative…

Not just you.
I thought the whole thing was pretty grim: not at all faithful to the score (which I was following).
Soloists particularly awful.

[growboth]

Hmm. Just back from the concert. The soloists were not particularly awful. As a late replacement the counter-tenor did a decent job with style and wit. The choruses were a bit underwhelming and got out of kilter at times. That’s part of the problem (attraction?) of the Albert hall as you can often hardly hear what’s going on on the other side of the organ

[growboth]

As a coupling it works, especially if you have to get young children involved in both halves.

[oddoneout]

Is it just me or is the chorus not quite with the band in the Carmina ? They sound a tad tentative…

There were some odd discrepancies I felt on occasion, with the children's/youth voices reaching the finishing post ahead of the adult voices, and neither set always seeming in step with the band. It wasn't the best performance I've heard and the soloists were not good as far as I'm concerned, although the roasted swan was less bad than the other two.
However - on the plus side I found the pairing worked in terms of the musical similarities between the two pieces, I enjoy listening to the Orff even in a less than stellar version, and it's good to hear the Stravinsky. I have sung both pieces, the Orff twice, the Stravinsky only the once 50 years ago but much of it it still seems to be in the memory banks. The choir I sang it with wasn't keen on it and one of the sopranos christened it "Cacophony of Psalms" and with several others kept up an undercurrent of dislike through rehearsals.