BWW Reviews: Cleveland Orchestra's Exhilarating CARMINA BARANA

Roy Berko

The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, and the Children's Chorus and three soloists combined to perform Orff's masterpiece, CARMINA BURANA, for four sold out performances.

The epic sounds of one of the world's greatest orchestras, and its renowned choruses and guest soloists (Nicholas Phan, Stephen Powell, Rebecca Nelsen), was greeted by a screaming standing ovation at the conclusion of the concert, which continued for four curtain calls.

The many textured moods, from nuanced to spell binding to swelling to forceful, to climactic, were all exceedingly well defined and performed.

The evening started with Bach's CONCERTO IN A MINOR, usually performed on the keyboard, but in this instance played on an oboe d'amore, a nasal sounding woodwind. As performed by orchestra member RoBert Walters, the soothing rendition was a nice balance to the long and complicated CARMINA BURANA.

The program was directed by James Feddeck, filling in for the ill Franz Welser-Möst. Feddeck is a delight to watch as he flows with the music, arms creating pictures in space, body almost dancing, face reflecting the various moods.