This performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, a work that has enjoyed unflagging popularity since it was first premiered in Frankfurt in 1937, features outstanding soloists with the Budafok Dohnanyi Orchestra and the Budapest Academy Choral Society. With its thrilling musical barbarism, this piece follows in Stravinsky's footsteps by guiding the listener through a world of boisterous student songs about the vicissitudes of fate and the fleeting nature of love. These songs originating from a medieval German codex discovered in Benediktbeuern Abbey in the 19th century display a ‘carpe diem' spirit and sense of morality, with an earthiness and bravado that is sometimes tender, sometimes humorous or lyrical, and occasionally vulgar.
From this abundant material, Orff chose a poem about the fickleness of fate entitled ‘O Fortuna' to serve as his opening theme. The cantata-like composition then continues with poems about the awakening of spring and carefree youngsters frolicking in a meadow. The title of the second section: ‘In taberna' (‘In the Tavern') Appearing on the imaginary stage is a drunken priest (in a short movement making for a true Gregorian parody), followed by an amusing list of who drinks and how (closing with the lines "Hundreds drink and thousands / the whole world swigs and guzzles”). The third part is about love, sometimes described with piquantly erotic language. And then the opening theme returns: ‘O Fortuna'.

Presented by: Budafok Dohnanyi Orchestra