Tucson Symphony Orchestra on Friday showed Tucson what “go big or go home” looks like:
The Linda Ronstadt Music Hall stage packed with nearly 300 musicians performing Carl Orff’s magnificent, larger-than-life masterpiece “Carmina Burana.”
But it was more than just optics.
It was 65 minutes of voices that soared into the cavernous space between the stage floor and the ceiling and the bombast of percussion and heart-pounding brass that reverberated throughout the hall.
From that booming drum beat and wall of glorious vocals in the iconic opening song “O Fortuna” to the two dozen songs about drinking, lust, drunkenness and debauchery conveyed in the poetry of 12th and 13th century itinerant monks, TSO Music Director José Luis Gomez reminded us of the powerful soul-affirming impact of “Carmina Burana.”
In the orchestra’s classics series finale, Gomez delivered that message with a thrilling, energetic and near-flawless performance of Orff’s rhythmic, infectious melodies that left some of us tapping our toes and bobbing our heads.
Hey, when music moves you, go with the flow.
Gomez, in his first ever “Carmina Burana,” brought out the vibrant colors and gothic undertones of Orff’s soul-stirring romp. Throbbing brass and thundering percussion — booming timpani and bass drum interrupted by the gentle ringing of triangle, castanets, tambourine, sleigh bells, xylophone and glockenspiels — backdropped soaring strings and the power of 200 voices singing the Germanic Latin, German and French texts with balance, energy and clear diction.
It’s a safe bet there were very few people in the audience that nearly filled the hall who could understand a word they were singing. Thankfully, the orchestra provided English translations on supertitles.
Tucson Symphony Orchestra Music Director José Luis Gomez, center, conducted his first “Carmina Burana” at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall with nearly 300 musicians on stage. It was sublime.
With so many bodies packed onto the stage, percussionists had to shimmy past choristers, stacked four rows deep from end to end at the back of the stage. Red-robed Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus singers and Tucson Girls Chorus members wearing black robes were pushed to the far edge next to their adult counterparts.
The wonderfully sweet-voiced counter tenor Logan Tanner slinked through the small space separating violinists to make his entrance for “Once I Swam in Lakes,” a silly song about a swan reflecting on its life as it’s spinning on a fiery spit.
Lyric soprano Ashley Fabian made a similar entrance when it was her turn to sing several songs about temptation and lust, accompanied by the exceptional boys and girls choristers on the Latin songs “Amore violat undique” (Love flies everywhere) and “Tempus est iocundum” (Time to jest).
There was a warmth to Octavio Moreno’s sublime baritone in “Estuans interius” (Seething Inside), which featured a brief but stunning duet between flute and timpani.
The audience gave the TSO and its soloists — from left, soprano Ashley Fabian, countertenor Logan Tanner and baritone Octavio Moreno standing next to Conductor José Luis Gomez — a standing ovation after Friday’s performance of “Carmina Burana.”
The orchestra had barely finished the reprisal of that heart-stopping “O Fortuna” that closes “Carmina Burana” when the audience jumped to its feet and started clapping for Gomez and the musicians.
The ovation continued even after the house lights came back on.
The TSO will repeat the performance, which is part of the Tucson Desert Song Festival, at 2 p.m. Sunday at Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. Go to tucsonsymphony.org for details and tickets.
