Carmina Burana Fine line between reveille and riot

There were musical saints in the Esplanade Concert Hall on 22nd and 23rd of August this year. Jaime Martin, Maestro of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, conducted the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Choruses and the Singapore Symphony Children’s Choir in a performance of Carmina Burana to raise the spirits of even the most deranged and troubled world. With Siobhan Stagg, Andrew Goodwin and Christopher Tonkin singing and acting the solos, it was a nectar to please all tastes.

The audience rose as one at the end to laud the spectacular performance. The applause was well deserved. I think Carl Orff, the composer, understood the fine line between reveille and riot. He kept to the right side of it but drove precious near. And that is what we all loved. Nothing teases the temper so precariously as being able to see over the edge of the cliff.?

And Orff mixes his musical metaphors almost as much as I mix my verbal ones.

Tenuous tales require a special skill. Jaime Martin has it. To ‘rouse seriously’ is a contradiction in terms.? Like all contradictions it tests our personal integrity. It is solving the test that provides the thrill of self discipline? -? win or lose. This was a win par excellence.?

It is right that praise for a performance like this comes first to the musicians, and Jaime Martin showed his appreciation in a moving and lively way. All were called to their feet before all were called - a super gesture appreciated as much by the audience as by the recipients.

It also reminds us of the enormous effort involved in presenting a work of this sort. For every instrumentalist there are likely two people organising; for every voice, probably more than two behind the scenes. An orchestra does not fill a space as big and beautiful as the Esplanade Concert Hall or as intimate and friendly as the Victoria Concert Hall without a lot of people working very hard, often unseen by the audience.

To mention them all would fill a bible. Goh Yew Lin has been the strongest asset since Dr Goh Keng Swee founded the orchestra back in the 1970s. Its spectacular success owes a great deal to the foresight, perseverance and musical appreciation of both of them. Kenneth Kwok is the Chief Executive Officer. His perceptive and steady hand makes the orchestra’s functioning such a joy. Like all artistic achievers feelings play a big part in success. So does handling them.

I suspect Carl Orff would have had tears of joy trickling down his cheeks.

We certainly did.

Well done.

Good morning

John Bittleston