Carl Orff's bawdy cantata, Carmina Burana (Songs of Beuren), is a great introduction to classical music, particularly for people who think "serious" music is boring and monotonous.
On February 22 and 23, China Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chorus of the China National Symphony Orchestra will jointly present the masterpiece to Beijing's audiences under the baton of Yu Long, artistic director of China Philharmonic Orchestra.
The first concert is at the Forbidden City Concert Hall while the second is at the Poly Theater.
It is the second major work involving the chorus to be staged by the China Philharmonic Orchestra since it performed the acclaimed Mahler's Eighth Symphony at the fifth Beijing Festival last October.
"Carmina Burana is a modern, 20th century work but is simple in harmony, unlike a lot of music composed that century," said conductor Yu.
"The driving rhythm and fundamental musical instincts allow listeners to respond immediately," he said.
The words of some 25 songs are drawn from a manuscript collection containing 200 medieval poems and songs dating back to 1220-1250 AD from ancient Styria or South Tyrol.
They were found during the 1803 secularization of a library in the ancient abbey of Beneditbeuern in Upper Bavaria near Munich, where Carl Orff (1895-1982) was born.
The expressive concerns of the poetry range from tender love to explicit eroticism, from praising the beauty of nature to earth-shattering assertions of human mortality and the power of fate.
Orff became fascinated by the ancient poems in the 1930s. He was a devout and active Roman Catholic who was known more as a music educator than as a composer at that time. Then he was exposed to the manuscript which changed his life.
His success in putting the poetry to music made his name in the canon of classical music: "With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin," the composer once wrote.
Its world premiere in Frankfurt by the Frankfurt Opera in 1937 was a big hit. After World War II, it developed into an international triumph.
Orff sought inspiration in two cultural traditions: classical Greek tragedy and Italian Baroque musical theater.
He described the music as "total theater" and in an inscription writes that these are "secular songs for soloists and choruses, accompanied by instruments and magic images."
As a result, the dramatic power and theatricality of the music becomes a prime consideration in any interpretation.
The work's novel orchestration and the massive technical demands give it force and energy. At times, Orff relaxes into beautiful tonal paintings which he evocatively sets besides thunderous climaxes.
?Carmina Burana is the best representative of Orff's distinctive style," said local classical music critic Li Cheng.
The secular songs are divided into three sections, revolving around the thematic complexes of "Spring," "Tavern Life" and "Love."
Conductor Yu keeps an excellent balance between chorus and orchestra. To achieve "total theater," he conducts the piece like opera: it swaggers, it has dramatic pacing, and it is graced by a splendid cast of operatic soloists.
The soloists in this Carmina Burana are counter-tenor Axel Kohler from Germany, baritone Liao Changyong, and soprano Yao Hong.
The German counter-tenor Axel Kohler has a splendid voice which interprets his part perfectly.
Liao projects a focused baritone and is riveting for his confident personality, notably in the Abbot's song.
Yao, a ravishing coloratura soprano, offers beautiful phrasing and heart-stopping high notes.
(China Daily February 20, 2003)
