Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
2007-04-28
Section: City&Region
Edition: Final
Page: B3
EXUBERANT, ELECTRIFYING
PHILHARMONIC, LEXINGTON SINGERS LEAVE AUDIENCE TINGLING AFTER PERFORMANCE OF 'CARMINA BURANA'
Loren Tice
Herald-Leader Contributing Writer
Why even think of living small when you can live this large? That was the thought while experiencing Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at last night's final concert of the year by the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra.
It was pure visceral enjoyment, especially from the 150 voices of the Lexington Singers (Jefferson Johnson, their masterful director), the brass (polished as well as air-splitting tone) and percussion (exuberance personified). Special mention also goes to the Lexington Singers Children's Chorus (superbly well-coached by Lori Hetzel). They easily matched the verve demanded by the composer. In 1937, Carl Orff's cantata was like a donkey braying in the middle of a garden party. His music had all the subtlety of a jackhammer, but it had an exhilaration that sweeps us away even today. He was virtually the first modernist in his open celebration of the pleasure principle. Life is for fun. If only the Nazis of Orff's native country had embraced that principle rather than the idea that life is for revenge!
Today, we view pleasure as an entitlement. By contrast, Orff's texts (by 13th-century rogue monks) are the furthest thing from narcissism. They were ribald, but mutually respectful. Their females expressed desire with equal passion to men, not such a publicly acceptable thing in Orff's day.
Last night's choral women were especially beguiling with their easy-toned roulades as they yearned for sweet love. The men were appropriately un-graceful in their bravado, but with full-bodied tone that was a pleasure to the ears.
It was the jackhammer rhythms that dominated, however, in a style of staccato exaggeration greatly enhanced by the Lexington Singers' vaunted crispness of diction. There were times when the sheer volume of sound interfered with intelligibility, but the result was still a dynamo. Rhythmical precision was occasionally a victim of radical changes in the music, but only at beginnings.
Conductor George Zack has a flair for endings, both understated and over the top. One movement ended in the most delicious diminuendo, as though so very reluctant to leave. Many sections ended with a brilliant crash, the electricity of it ricocheting around the hall.
Soloists were both a delight and a disappointment. Baritone Jacob Lassetter and tenor Will Compton negotiated extreme high ranges with a richness of tone that beggars the imagination of us shower-stall singers. But they didn't seduce us enough with histrionic personalities. Soprano Catherine Clarke possesses a marvelous lyric voice. Her role had a lot of the ingenue of Maria in The Sound of Music, and could have benefited from a little Carmen-like sensuality. Nevertheless, we were entirely enthralled.
2007-04-28
Section: City&Region
Edition: Final
Page: B3
EXUBERANT, ELECTRIFYING
PHILHARMONIC, LEXINGTON SINGERS LEAVE AUDIENCE TINGLING AFTER PERFORMANCE OF 'CARMINA BURANA'
Loren Tice
Herald-Leader Contributing Writer
Why even think of living small when you can live this large? That was the thought while experiencing Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at last night's final concert of the year by the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra.
It was pure visceral enjoyment, especially from the 150 voices of the Lexington Singers (Jefferson Johnson, their masterful director), the brass (polished as well as air-splitting tone) and percussion (exuberance personified). Special mention also goes to the Lexington Singers Children's Chorus (superbly well-coached by Lori Hetzel). They easily matched the verve demanded by the composer. In 1937, Carl Orff's cantata was like a donkey braying in the middle of a garden party. His music had all the subtlety of a jackhammer, but it had an exhilaration that sweeps us away even today. He was virtually the first modernist in his open celebration of the pleasure principle. Life is for fun. If only the Nazis of Orff's native country had embraced that principle rather than the idea that life is for revenge!
Today, we view pleasure as an entitlement. By contrast, Orff's texts (by 13th-century rogue monks) are the furthest thing from narcissism. They were ribald, but mutually respectful. Their females expressed desire with equal passion to men, not such a publicly acceptable thing in Orff's day.
Last night's choral women were especially beguiling with their easy-toned roulades as they yearned for sweet love. The men were appropriately un-graceful in their bravado, but with full-bodied tone that was a pleasure to the ears.
It was the jackhammer rhythms that dominated, however, in a style of staccato exaggeration greatly enhanced by the Lexington Singers' vaunted crispness of diction. There were times when the sheer volume of sound interfered with intelligibility, but the result was still a dynamo. Rhythmical precision was occasionally a victim of radical changes in the music, but only at beginnings.
Conductor George Zack has a flair for endings, both understated and over the top. One movement ended in the most delicious diminuendo, as though so very reluctant to leave. Many sections ended with a brilliant crash, the electricity of it ricocheting around the hall.
Soloists were both a delight and a disappointment. Baritone Jacob Lassetter and tenor Will Compton negotiated extreme high ranges with a richness of tone that beggars the imagination of us shower-stall singers. But they didn't seduce us enough with histrionic personalities. Soprano Catherine Clarke possesses a marvelous lyric voice. Her role had a lot of the ingenue of Maria in The Sound of Music, and could have benefited from a little Carmen-like sensuality. Nevertheless, we were entirely enthralled.
Reprinted courtesy of the Lexington Herald-Leader