We can't help it; we love 'Carmina Burana'

Tenor Christopher Pfund has sung at least 200 performances of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” but even he has trouble explaining the appeal in purely musical terms.

“To stand there and to hear the opening salvos of ‘O Fortuna’ is just invigorating,” said Pfund, the guest tenor for Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s performance of “Carmina Burana” this weekend. “It’s always rejuvenating for me and refreshing. It just fires me up. It turns me into a kid. I’ve been doing this piece a long time. Contrary to what I thought when I first started, I feel like I’m getting better and better with the piece.”

And no less enthralled.

“One of the things that is so great about it is that ... this piece has a wonderful combination of elements,” said Pfund, who teaches at the University of Idaho. “Orff uses a lot of medieval types of gestures in melody. And those are very melodic. It’s music that right away we can hear melodies and we know where those are going. Because they are model in nature … they are things that we can grab onto.”

But more than anything, “Carmina Burana” has a way of grabbing onto its listeners. The opening rumble of the timpani and crashing cymbals introduces a thunder of voices alternately exclaiming and lamenting “O Fortuna!” Two little words, one monster sentiment that will suck you in and hold you until the finale, a recast of the signature tune.

The piece, which uses 24 poems from the medieval “Carmina Burana” collection, is divided into three sections — Fortune, In the Tavern and Court of Love. Within the sections are more than two dozen songs, many of them dealing with drinking and sexual escapades.

“Every section is a completely different expression — expressing love, expressing springtime, expressing various types of humor,” said Pfund, whose character is a swan lamenting his fate: spinning on a spit over an open flame about to become dinner.

“Each one of these movements is melodic and rhythmic and repetitive enough that you can anticipate the ending. And I think that’s probably why so much of the music is used in popular culture. It connects to our time. It really does,” said Pfund. “O Fortuna” has been used in TV shows and commercials including in the 2015 Super Bowl ad for Domino’s Pizza. For years, glam rocker Ozzy Osbourne used “O Fortuna” as his intro music in his live shows.

TSO will perform “Carmina Burana” on Friday, March 18, and Sunday, March 20, with guest conductor Andrew Grams at the podium. Grams and Pfund performed the piece together in 2014 with the Cleveland Orchestra.