PAAVO JÄRVI dirigiert das Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich und die Zürcher Sing-Akademie; alpha
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16.01.25
Ingobert Waltenberger
Orff's "Carmina Burana", a work with appeal that extends far beyond the classical music scene, is based on a selection of 254 handwritten texts from the 11th to 13th centuries that were found in the Benediktbeuern monastery. In 1936, Carl Orff, advised by Michel Hofmann from Bamberg, set 24 of them to music in a fairly free manner for orchestra, choir and soloists and combined them in a scenic cantata in several sections (Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi, Primo vere, Uf dem Anger, In Taberna, Cour d'Amours, Banziflor et Helena and Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi). We encounter spring, eating and drinking songs by vagabonds and love songs.
Everyone probably knows the first two bars of the opening and closing chorus “O Fortuna”, which begins with the words describing luck as a fickle little bird: “Fate, like the moon up there, you are so changeable, you are always growing or fading – life here is disgraceful…”. According to Orff, they go back to Monteverdi’s “Lamento d’Arianna” as an ‘encrypted quote’. Despite the Latin and Middle High German language, the medieval texts gained a striking universality in Carl Orff’s archaic, elemental mysticism and loud rhythms, with all the accompanying phenomena, not least the banalization and arrangement-itis that such popularity brings with it.
We can therefore count ourselves all the more fortunate that there are excellent recordings of this exquisite concert piece, of which the one from 1967, conducted by Eugen Jochum with the choir and orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Gundula Janowitz, Gerhard Stolze and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau - authorized by the composer himself - is one of the highlights of recording history.
Since then, countless conductors have performed the piece or produced it in the studio, including Eugene Ormandy, James Levine, Michel Plasson, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Riccardo Chailly, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Christian Thielemann and Kristjan Järvi. In 2022, the older brother of the latter, Paavo Järvi, performed and had this Carmina Burana recorded in the Tonhalle Zurich. It was only the third time in the history of the Tonhalle-Gesellschaft Zurich that the piece was played.
Compared to Jochum, P. Järvi takes eight minutes more time in total. But that doesn't mean that his interpretation is (consistently) more cumbersome. Järvi lets the tempos swing at a greater amplitude in some movements, but then uses rapid accelerandi to create contrast, for example in the first two choral movements or in 'Floret silva nobilis'. Järvi takes a really slow approach in 'Veris leta facies' and 'Reie, swat hie gat umbe', although he really puts the pedal to the metal in 'Swaz diu werlt alle min' after reaching epic breadth.
The Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich is a trusted ally when it comes to magical timbres and hearty sound effects, with the hard-pressed percussion group deserving of a special mention.
Of the three soloists, Max Emanuel Cencic stands out in 'Olim lacus colueram' with his laconic rhetoric and his richly timbred countertenor. What a wonderfully plaintive wail he lets out as a roasted swan from the grill spit. The Canadian baritone Russell Braun has a considerable vocal range, but lacks a calmly flowing legato in 'Omnia sol temperat' and tends to harden in the high notes ('Estuans interius'). The lyrical coloratura soprano Alina Wunderlin, Queen of the Night and Adele on duty, lets her lightweight voice shine androgynously in the court of love. The high and highest notes ('Dulcissime') float dreamily into the room.
The Zurich Sing-Akademie and the Zurich Boys' Choir offer pure vocal delights, a captivatingly fragrant diction, dance-like verve and unparalleled rhythmic precision.
Järvi has succeeded in producing a narratively powerful, detailed, and conceptually sophisticated tempo performance. The sound quality, particularly the spatial depth and the balance of orchestra, choir and soloists, offer pure audiophile delights.
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