I Never use the word perfect to describe anything as I believe in the Japanese theory that we may spend our lives to understand perfection wtihout ever actually becoming it. In other words to attain perfection one must first understand what perfection is, and humans are imperfect by definition and thus are incapable of the realization of perfection. That aside, there are likewise few pieces of music that encompass so many facets of the musical world that they wield the energy to change the very fabric of music as we may have known, supplying a new universe of music so profound that we find ourselves caught in the moment, perhaps for just a brief instant being shown the light of perfection – even though we may not understand that is what we have be enlightened to witness.

Carl Orff was a composer who actually created a new school of music whereby he combined traditional Orchestral Music with Choral sounds that merged into a new emotional moving, and sometimes cripling, form of sound. Many argue that the combination of choral and orchestral existed long before Carl Orff, and they are correct, but it is Orff’s emotional grasp on the listener that makes him so exceptional, and so copied. Carl Orff’s style became the cornerstone to what most of us are now familiar with hearing as backdrop music to so many amazing Hollywood blockbusters, and amazing soundtracks. Basil Poledouris, Hans Zimmer, John Williams, and James Horner are just a few of the composers who have been affected by Orff’s musical universe. 

The piece I show you now is a piece that I have no doubt you will have heard some of before. Carmina Burana, more specifically O Fortuna, is a piece that has been used thousands of times in countless videos, movies (Excalibur), video games, and commercials due to the emotional effect it has on the listener.  The writer Mercedes Lackey once said that the difference between a singer and a bard is the singer sings music, the bard makes a person feel music. Carl Orff is the definition of Bard regarding composers.

There are few pieces of music that can rival the strength of this piece, performed here, in the entirety, by the UC Davis Symphony, the University Chorus and Alumni Chorus and the Pacific Boychoir – The one that springs to mind is argueably one of the only pieces that has been used more that O Fortuna: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony – Ode to Joy. I have gifted you with a sample of that as well. 

Take the time to listen to both – allow yourself a chance to glimpse perfection.

Carmina Burana

O Fortuna used in Excalibur

 

Ode to Joy – Conducted by Bernstein