by Peter Feher
For a moment during the Akron Symphony’s season-finale performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, conductor Christopher Wilkins seemed to consider inviting the audience to sing along.
It would have been very much in keeping with the spirit shared throughout E.J. Thomas Hall on Saturday evening, May 9. The orchestra winningly combined local pride and popular classics to conclude the concert year, and as if on cue, the community turned out in enthusiastic response.
With Orff as the main offering, the Akron Symphony attracted its biggest audience for a classical program in a decade, according to the organization’s own tally.
Called on as choristers, any crowd could probably manage a passable imitation of the famous opening “O Fortuna” — those fateful clashing chords that set the wheel of Carmina Burana spinning. But someone listening attentively to the piece might be tempted to join in whenever a refrain starts up.
“Welcome to Mahler’s 2nd,” read the program leaflet I was handed while entering E.J. Thomas Hall on March 1. “You’re in for an emotional rollercoaster — big drama, quiet reflection, and an ending that will shake the walls (and maybe your soul).”
Unfinished works seem to be held in higher esteem for their being incomplete — the remaining music feeling more precious, conscious as we are of what else might have been lost. How to explain then, the impact of Mozart’s