ROCCO PRIOLETTI
Staff Writer
From underpinning the ironic dramaticism of television commercials to flooding the senses with its hypnotic grandeur in film soundtracks, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is ubiquitous not only among concert hall regulars but also among frequenters of popular media at large.
At 8 p.m. Saturday in the Amphitheater, Milanov will lead not only Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, but also Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus through Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Rossen Milanov, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra’s music director, is no stranger to the momentous work himself.
“The reaction is always wild, particularly near the end of the piece, because this work has entered our pop culture so deeply that I think people know what to expect … from the first and last chorus, of course,” Milanov noted, reflecting on past Chautauquans’ responses under Orff’s allure. “And they’re so surprised and so taken by the intensity of the experience in the middle movements as well.”
Here, in between Carmina Burana’s sky-high bookends, three solo singers are spotlighted — all of whom are “some of the world’s best,” according to Milanov.
The soprano soloist is at the helm of the piece’s most elegant moments, while the high tenor tackles the short and somewhat satirical “Song of the Roasted Swan,” displaying the soloist’s virtuosic “extreme range.”
Baritone soloist Hugh Russell returns to Chautauqua Institution to perform the work in tonight’s performance.
“In my opinion, he is the best baritone for Carmina Barana in the world,” Milanov said. “So, I’m very happy that we’ll be collaborating with extraordinary artists for that particular performance.”
Carmina Burana is the first of Orff’s “Trionfi” trilogy of cantatas. Each work within the trilogy depicts love in varying fashions. Milanov said he sees Carmina Burana as a representation of “fortune and earthly pleasures.”
“[Carmina Burana is] followed by Catulli Carmina, which is love in a more sensual, sensuous way,” Milanov said. “And, finally, completing the cycle with Trionfo di Afrodite, which is a celebration of marriage and kind of … [comes] from a different perspective than the other two.”
Comparatively, Carmina Burana is undoubtedly the most popular and more culturally prevalent of Orff’s trilogy. Though having recently conducted Columbus Symphony Orchestra through Trionfo di Afrodite, Milanov holds a fondness for the more overshadowed of the three.
“It went with a huge success, and it’s an extraordinary piece that deserves to be heard,” Milanov said. “So maybe, as we’re looking down the road here in Chautauqua, we could look into the other two parts of the trilogy, so people would have a better sense of how massive and how rich that cycle is.”
Despite its foundations in Latin, Old French and Middle High German texts, Carmina Burana continues to keep dead languages alive through the voices of its performers, transcending language barriers for audiences with breathtaking triumphancy.
