Christian Hartmann, solo timpani and percussion, on his involvement with Carmina Burana.
"When Carl Orff's' Carmina Burana' is on the programme with a large orchestra, we percussionists get into the mood. As a timpanist, the work has accompanied me all my musical life. It is played for two pianos and percussion all over the country, and we know it by heart on our instrument. But we rarely play it with a large orchestra. I have been with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich for fifteen years now and since then this has only happened once. A celebration!
There are six of us in this versatile, highly effective, downright lushly orchestrated work, which ranges from the most powerful thunder to an intimate dialogue between timpani and flute in a tender love song. A prominent assignment that demands precision from all of us and causes stage fright. That's when my pulse goes up, mainly for the sheer joy of making music."
Recorded by Melanie Kollbrunner
Translated with DeepL.com
