MUSIC

-- Mike Joyce

Baltimore Symphony And Choral Arts Society

Marin Alsop, the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and the Baltimore Symphony raised the roof Saturday night at the Music Center at Strathmore, with a loud, joyous romp through Carl Orff's fail-safe extravaganza "Carmina Burana." Alsop primed the audience with an amusing talk, playing up the lurid and erotic elements of the program, which began with Samuel Barber's dark "Medea's Dance of Vengeance."

A successful "Carmina" depends on the chorus more than anything, and the Baltimore singers were well trained and mostly solid. The outbursts in "Veni, veni, venias" were lusty but perfectly placed. There were pitch problems in "Chramer, gip die varwe mir," and the reprise of "O Fortuna" was a little underpowered, but overall, the chorus had good focus and diction. Led by baritone Leon Williams, the soloists were excellent. Williams's voice is not huge, but it is burnished and clear from top to bottom, and he brought just the right touch of theatricality. "Dies, nox et omnia" was as beautiful as ever, and the droll "Ego sum abbas" approached performance art. Soprano Maria Kanyova was similarly fine, although one heard some strain in "Dulcissime." Tenor Gordon Gietz actually sang his strangled lines.

Alsop conducted confidently, although the two orchestral interludes were bland, and ensemble problems cropped up in "Tempus est iocundum." Most annoying was the rapid tempo for "O Fortuna," leaving no room for Orff's thrilling kick-start on the final "plangite!"

-- Robert Battey

Newton Faulkner

Three songs into Newton Faulkner's Friday night set at a sold-out Jammin' Java, the question occurs: This guy's 2007 album, "Hand Built by Robots," went to No. 1 on the U.K. charts? The dreadlocked folk-rock troubadour sang pleasant enough songs about peace, love and understanding, as well as UFOs, but ultimately the 23-year-old was about as exciting as his outfit -- simply a rumpled T-shirt and jeans.

Perhaps that's too harsh a criticism for the likable Faulkner, but still: No. 1?

Faulkner's hook is his guitar playing. He uses every inch of his acoustic guitar, front and back, to make sounds as he sings. He simultaneously strums, plucks, taps and raps the soundboard, the fretboard and the strings, in effect accompanying himself on percussion as he plays the melody on the strings. He even slides the capo (the pitch-changing clamp) on the guitar neck to get an interesting new texture during songs.

It's interesting to watch, but the novelty lasts only so long. Then again, you can't see his playing technique on a CD, so the success of his record must be from the songs. "Feels Like Home," "Straight Towards the Sun," "She's Got the Time," "To the Light" and his hit single, "Dream Catch Me," were charming and clever, but they were outshone by his two energetic covers, Massive Attack's "Teardrop" and Dead or Alive's '80s anthem "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)."