By John Shulson
With the end of the Easter and Passover seasons, there’s nothing like a bit bawdy living and over indulgence to bring things back into perspective — musically speaking (or otherwise). Such were among the topics sung in the Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s program Friday in the Ferguson Center, featuring over 100 voices in Carl Orff’s powerful and vividly descriptive “Carmina Burana.”
Based on poems from some youthful rebellious religious students of the 11th and 12th centuries, the poems from which “Carmina Burana” emerged are far from religious. They deal with such ideas as gluttony, drinking, gambling, eroticism, love and mockery, somewhat centered around the concept of the spinning wheel of fortune or fate.
“O Fortuna,” the spinning musical theme that opens and closes this selection of 24 poems, is one of those knock your socks off pieces that immediately establishes a feeling of power that keeps accelerating emotionally into a tidal wave of sound and emotion that sent the audience into a frenzy of cheers, whistles, and resounding applause.
“Carmina,” however, isn’t all bluster and bombast. Divided into three sections, “Spring,” “In the Tavern,” and “The Court of Love,” it offers many moments of gentleness and sweetness (“Round Dance”), of pulsating energy (“When We Are in the Tavern”), of effervescence and anticipation (“Behold, the Pleasant Spring”) and of pure adoration (“Hail, Most Beautiful One”). And, there’s a bit of coquettishness and maybe even friskiness for added delight (“In My Heart” and “If a Boy with a Girl”).
The Orff is not an easy piece given its highly and frequent shifting rhythmic patterns and choral demands, not the least of which is navigating texts in Old French, Middle High German and Latin. The challenge was resoundingly met by singers from the VSO Chorus and Children’s Chorus, Ludwig Diehn Chorale and ODU Concert Choir.
Likewise resoundingly meeting their challenges were guest vocalists Amy Owens (soprano), Brenton Ryan (tenor) and Will Liverman (baritone). Notable moments came with Ryan’s “Once I Lived on Lakes,” where he amusingly portrayed a swan’s thoughts on being placed on a spit for roasting (it really is funny), Liverman’s “Day, Night and Everything” and ” Owens’s “In the Balance.” The latter two singers were terrific in “This is the Joyful Time,” with their flirtatious back and forth, and “Sweetest One,“ which showcased Owens’s beautiful soprano and range, and led into the closing mind-blowing “Hail, Most Beautiful One” and reprise of “O Fortuna.”
“Carmina,” however, wasn’t the program’s only power piece, opening with the propulsive pop and world premiere of Michael Daugherty’s “Night Owl for Orchestra,” commissioned by the VSO. One of the most commissioned and played composers in today’s world of music, Grammy winning Daugherty is a “who’s who” composer.
“Night Owl” reflects the power and majesty of the steam locomotive locally and nationally, inspired by black and white photos of steam engines taken by O. Winston Link from 1955 to 1960 of equipment and personnel from our own Norfolk & Western Railway, later to become Norfolk Southern Railway. Augmenting the sounds were projections of some of Link’s images that enhanced the delight of Daugherty’s design.
From the pulsing energy of “Shutterspeed,” which reflected the application of Link’s exacting photographic technique on his subjects, to the sweet, peacefully nostalgic visuals in “Solitude, Virginia,” to the closing “Thunder on Blue Ridge” with its full steam ahead propulsive drive, “Night Owl” was exciting and thoughtful.
Like Daugherty, Alfred Honegger was drawn to steam locomotives, his “Pacific 231” vividly depicting the mechanics of operation. However, Daugherty’s “Night Owl” found the essence and spirit of the subject and its wider impact on the hearts and souls of the country which, along with the Orff made this one powerful end to a swell VSO season.
Shulson, a Williamsburg resident, has been covering the arts for over 40 years. He makes a guest appearance in Margaret Truman’s “Murder at the Opera.”
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