Critics Corner

Master Chorale Offers Convincing 'Carmina"
By KURT LOFT
© The Tampa Tribune
published February 9, 2008

TAMPA - With a burst of chorus and kettledrums Friday night at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, listeners entered a mystic realm stuck somewhere between the Medieval and modern worlds.

The Florida Orchestra and Master Chorale of Tampa Bay teamed up for another go at Carl Orff's dramatic cantata, "Carmina Burana," music that jars the senses with its explosive choral opening, hushed chants and insistent rhythms.

"Carmina" is music like no other, poetic and profane, stripped of counterpoint, bare-boned - and essentially human. The "Songs of Beuren" is based on a collection of Latin and low German poems discovered in 1803 at a Benedictine abbey near Munich, and depicts the vagaries of life in the spring, in the tavern, and the court of love.

Millions know its striking "O Fortuna" chorus from television, movies and football games, but its riches are found in the center of a live, full-length version with 250 musicians on stage.

The Master Chorale joined the Tampa Bay Children's Chorus on bleachers behind the orchestra - an impressive musical force under the baton of guest conductor Christoph Campestrini. If the opening "O Fortuna" lacked the crisp attack it needed to shake the rafters of Morsani Hall, the performance improved with each passing section.

Baritone Stephen Salters, soprano Joanna Mongiardo and tenor Christopher Pfund made a delightful vocal trio, milking their parts with aplomb and injecting plenty of spirit and humor into their songs. Pfund's roasting swan was a highlight; Salters let loose his "seething, boiling rage"; and Mongiardo won over listeners with her delightful "Dulcissime!" aria.

Prepared by Richard Zielinski, the Master Chorale proved how virtuosic this group can be, judging from its fleeting rhythms, explosive declamation, moods of joy and sadness, and rapid-fire speech-song.

The evening was a study in contrast, opening with the orchestra's principal bassist, Dee Moses, in the Florida premiere of John Harbison's "Bass Concerto." Moses is one of 15 bassists across the country who are participating in this "rolling premiere" by the prominent American composer, whose 20-minute work moves from a lament to a cavatina to a rondo.

Full of suppressed energy and fragments of melody, the concerto evolves cautiously, nervously, finding a tonal center before it slips away. Sitting on a stool at center stage, Moses played with focus, but the work itself came off as flat and expressionless, sounding more like an academic exercise than a keeper in the heart.

Performances continue tonight at 8 at Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. For details visit www.floridaorchestra.org.