Carl Orff's Carmina Burana - Bristol Choral Society

The wheel of fate spins and all human life whirls past, full of hope and despair, ribaldry and playfulness, amorous intent and wide-eyed delight in the natural world. Little wonder that the collection of poems Carmina Burana transfixed Carl Orff who set 24 of them in a kaleidoscopic cantata that became an instant hit. ‘Everything I have written to date can be destroyed’ he told his publisher. ‘With Carmina Burana my collected works begins’. Cut down to size in a two pianos and percussion reincarnation, the music registers with all its visceral immediacy, zesty humour and rhythmic kick intact. Meanwhile limbering up to medieval mayhem, we open with the perfect partner. Scored for the same forces, Bob Chilcott’s love letter to old London Town evokes a cityscape of jazzy vitality and atmospheric mood music. Capital!