Riccardo Muti conducts Carmina Burana

I'm lucky enough to have tickets for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's dress rehearsal of Carmina Burana (conducted by Muti) this afternoon. http://cso.org/  I will comment on this later....in the meantime here is a youtube video clip of the "O Fortuna" movement:

Wikipedia: Twenty-four poems in Carmina Burana were set to music by Carl Orff in 1936; Orff's composition quickly became a staple piece of the classical music repertoire. The opening and closing movement, "O Fortuna", has been used in countless films and has become a symbol of the "epic" song in popular culture. Carmina Burana remains one of the most popular pieces of music ever written.

"O Fortuna" is a medieval Latin Goliardic poem written early in the thirteenth century, part of the collection known as the Carmina Burana. It is a complaint about fate and Fortuna, a goddess in Roman mythology and the personification of luck.

Later: This performance gave me goose bumps. The poetry/lyrics still seem relevant, even though it was written in the 13th Century. It was the first time I'd been to a CSO dress rehearsal. Riccardo Muti gently corrected the chorus a couple of times, but it didn't detract from the overall enjoyment....in fact, if anything, it added some extra interest...seeing the Maestro in action! It was a rare treat to see this particular composer, a magnificent (over 100-person) chorus, and the full orchestra. Muti felt the piece had suffered from over-use, having been used in movies and even, in his native Italy, a toilet paper commercial.

Here are the translated lyrics to the O Fortuna movement:

O Fortune,
variable
as the moon,
always dost thou
wax and wane.
Detestable life,
first dost thou mistreat us,
and then, whimsically,
thou heedest our desires.
As the sun melts the ice,
so dost thou dissolve
both poverty and power.

Monstrous
and empty fate,
thou, turning wheel,
art mean,
voiding
good health at thy will.
Veiled
in obscurity,
thou dost attack
me also.
To thy cruel pleasure
I bare my back.

Thou dost withdraw
my health and virtue;
thou dost threaten
my emotion
and weakness
with torture.
At this hour,
therefore, let us
pluck the strings without
delay.
Let us mourn together,
for fate crushes the brave.