O
FORTUNA!
The
Joy Chorale
Esplanade
Concert Hall
Sunday (18 December 2016 )
This review was published in The Straits Times on 20 December 2016 with the title "Seasonal cheer from a joyful chorale".
It is amazing how Carl Orff's Carmina Burana has become one of the
most popular and performed of all choral works. Why performances of it have not
been banned a long time ago remains a mystery. Its greatest indictment was that
Nazis appropriated it as a glorification of German (read Aryan) peasantry and
its racially “pure” values.
Then there are those Latin and antiquated
German words extolling the joys of the tavern, feasting, drinking and underage
sex. Not even meriting a M18 rating has its advantages. After all, how would
one get all those children into the hall to sing lascivious lines like “Oh! Oh, Oh! I am bursting all over with
love!”?
To present Carmina Burana as a Christmas-time concert was a coup, as the hall
was well-filled with families and children, toting camera handphones and all
ready for some seasonal cheer. The 170-strong Joy Chorale (Chorus Director:
Khor Ai Ming), including 85 children's voices, was colourfully attired and in
good voice. Accompanied by the Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Adrian Tan, this was a visual and aural spectacular as much as those Mahlerian
concerts that have come before.
The gauntlet was thrown in the first
timpani thwack and the opening chorus O
Fortuna, sung with much guts and gusto. The wheel of fortune, waxing and
waning like the moon, had spun and Fate dealt its first hands. One might not expect
the same polish as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and Chorus' previous
performances, but the raw energy exuded was equally palpable.
The larger congregation of women singers
were in their element throughout, easily the best section of the choir. Men's
voices are always in short supply, but they excelled in In Taberna Quando Sumus with its repeated “bibit” toasts. In Si Puer
Cum Puellula (If A Boy With A Girl),
what was needed were several shots of choral Viagra. The children barely kept
their tune in Amor Volat Undique (Love Flies Everywhere), but looking cute
and innocent was all that mattered.
Of the soloists, baritone Alvin Tan was a
confident and bellowing Abbot of Cockaigne, of hearty voice even if his
pronunciation was not always perfect. Opposite him, soprano Xi Wang maintained
a virginal presence, comfortably conquering the high notes even in the
climactic Dulcissime, with the most
joyous loss of maidenhood in all music.
The cameo role afforded to tenor Melvin
Tan as the roasted swan on a spit was well characterised. His agonised voice
and demeanour, and attired in tribute to Björk's ludicrous swan costume, were
alone worth the price of entry. There was even a terpsichorean role which
dancer Rachel Lum obliged with no little grace.
Full lyrics and translations were
provided both on screen and in the programme booklet, a luxury given the
prohibitive copyright costs involved. Kelly Tang's orchestral showpiece Apocalypso in a virtuosic performance
served as a excellent prelude, and Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You as encore provided a suitably
festive send-off.
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