O Fortuna!

[rickps]

As I type this, I'm listening to selections from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana on the local classical radio station and reminiscing about singing this amazingly percussive work in college.  For an engineering school, RPI - AKA Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - had a surprisingly good chorus (although it was called a "glee club", a name which I always thought was amusing as heck).  Our Christmas Carols concert (long before it was politically incorrect to call such an event by such a name) was attended by a crowd of over 5,000.  The Spring Concert (not yet politically incorrectly named) always included one of the massive warhorses of the choral universe.  Attendance was fewer in number but the enthusiasm shown by our audiences was, if anything, at a higher pitch.

Anyway, back to Carmina... This is one of those classical pieces that many people have heard in snippets here and there in movies, TV shows, and the odd commercial yet never know by name.  It takes just under an hour to perform, requires great precision in the singing of the Latin and low German lyrics, and has a voice killing climax.  We loved it.  So much so in fact that it was decided to memorialize our performance on a vinyl LP (yes, kids, that's called a 'record').  I still have it somewhere in a box in storage. 

All of this came back to me in a flash of recollection.  Wow

Comments

[qbear.livejournal.com]

I was in the RPI chorus! Roger Hannah was the director, and we did all kinds of works, from Bach's Magnificat with full Baroque orchestra to Palestrina to Mozart's Requiem. I was also in a smaller chamber/madrigal group. It was a great experience, and led me to further participation in other Capital Region choral groups such as the Capitol Hill Chorus, Albany Pro Musica and the Octavo Singers.

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

Joel Dolven was the music director during my time in the RPI Glee Club. He also taught the few music classes the school allowed. Joel retired my last year at the school, a sad occasion. He was an amazingly talented director, loved the mens chorus, and encouraged us to be better than we thought we could be.

[simbobloke.livejournal.com]

Do you actually have anything that can play vinyl thingamies any more?

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

Yes, I actually have a good turntable. But it's in storage along with the boxes of LPs that I still own. Perhaps a waste of storage space but I can't part with them

[beardoc.livejournal.com]

Did you ever hear the withdrawn version by Apotheosis that was released and then taken off the shelves back in 1991?

[ricksf.livejournal.com]

No, I never have. Some years ago I searched the various recordings of the piece that were then available looking for the definitive performance with superior transcription to CD. The Apotheosis recording was not among them (although I just found a clip on You Tube).