‘Carmina burana’ by Carl Orff

Scene direction and scenography: Carlus Padrissa (La Fura del Baus)
Musical Director: César Belda.
When: 5 October.
Where: Arriaga Theatre in Bilbao.

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This version of Carmina burana, by Carl Orff, by the hand of La Fura del Baus, under the strange direction of Carlus Padrissa, has been around for fourteen years, although for many people it is something new.

I still remember that it premiered in 2009, at the Quincena Musical of San Sebastian. It looked like a little revolution. Something different, spectacular, expressive.
But I think that production has aged badly.

An eight-meter diameter cylinder that brings together the musicians and makes them screen, a giant moon, the thaw, the floral ecstasy, the live vintage, and that projects many things, bars and singers hanging from the cranes, immersed in wine, water and fire, that we see on the scene and that at first can be so suggestive (I really think the original staging was a little bit more.)

Little can be said about the beauty and strength of Carl Orff’s work. As for the texts, the original Carmina Burana is a collection of poems from the 12th and 13th centuries that are kept in a single codex and that extol the joy of living and the interest in pleasures, love and enjoyment of nature, always with a critical and satirical look at the social strata of the time.

As far as music is concerned, the work has twenty-five numbers. Its main feature is rhythmic force, which gives it an impulse that reaches the heart of the listener. In fact, the score is written for a great orchestra, but this time we had to settle with the Chamartin Symphony Orchestra, with an instrumental set made up of two pianos, contraband, flute and percussion, and with the CB Creatives choir, which undoubtedly demonstrated outrage and comfort in the escena.Es a pity that the names of the soloists are not mentioned in the sheet.
The soprano had to make a great effort to sing, making cabrioles above the scene at the same time, and showed a good timbre, although in the greetings he found some difficulty.

The baritone showed a good and hot fraseo in Omnia sol temperat, although the sharp was not its best characteristic.

Perhaps the weakest action was that of the contratenor, who sang with difficulty his Olim lacus coluard, interpreting the roasted chicken, which repents of its fate in the turning bar while cooking, Pena, really.