Spectacular performance of Carmina Burana at the Seattle Symphony

Last weekend we attended the season finale for the Seattle Symphony, a lively performance of Carl Orff's lusty Carmina Burana, at Benaroya Hall with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, plus the Northwest Boychoir, all led by assistant conductor Carolyn Kuan. The soloists included silvery-voiced soprano Maureen McKay, whimsical tenor Stanford Olsen and larger than life baritone Lucas Meachem.

The concert started with Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and an amazing performance by young guest soloist Joan Kwuon. Then we proceeded to the fabulous Carmina Burana, beginning with a rousing rendition of the stunning and unmistakable O Fortuna!, followed by numerous playful, whimsical and progressively more lust-filled choral pieces, based on risque medieval texts.

It is no wonder that such a spectacular piece of music continues to have a lasting appeal:

The subject matter covered in Carmina stays pretty basic: love, lust, the pleasures of drinking and the heightened moods evoked by springtime. These primitive and persistently relevant themes are nicely camouflaged by the Latin and old German texts, so the listener can actually feign ignorance while listening to virtually X-rated lyrics. (Veni Veni Venias! Come, come come now!)

The music itself toggles between huge forces and a single voice, juxtaposing majesty and intimacy with ease. At its largest, Carmina employs a chorus of 200 or more voices, an orchestra of 100 players and a children's choir of 50 or more, plus three soloists (soprano, tenor and baritone).

This magnificent choral piece is one of my absolute favorites in the entire cannon of classical music! Hearing this piece on a half decent sound system is spectacular enough (with volume blasting, of course!) but hearing it performed live is truly an amazing experience. The following review in Seattle Times takes the words right out of my mouth, as far as capturing the intensity and atmosphere of the performance at the Seattle Symphony's Benaroya Hall.