For a moment, Anchorage Concert Chorus conductor Grant Cochran wondered if he'd made a mistake. He'd chosen a little-known piece, Carl Orff's "Catulli Carmina,'' for the first concert of the season. Then Cochran read the translation of the original Latin text, based on the love poems of a Roman, Catullus, who lived during the time of Julius Caesar.
The lusty tale, a story within a story of wise old men counseling naive youngsters about the perils of love by recounting the poet's betrayal, contains a fair number of equally lusty words. Metaphor runs rampant throughout the piece's prelude, with references to serpents, twin apples, naughty little hands and anatomical words unlikely to appear in a family newspaper. Or to spring, albeit in Latin, from the lips of a concert chorus.
"I knew it was going to be eyebrow-raising,'' Cochran, 41, acknowledged, adding that with the inclusion of "Sweeney Todd," the musical tale of a murderous barber, later in the chorus's season, he might be pushing the propriety envelope.
Cochran said he intended all along to "water down the text" of "Catulli Carmina,'' first performed in 1943, and he did. His version, which will be heard when the chorus performs the piece along with Alaska Dance Theatre this week, is positively PG. Ribald language has been eliminated in favor of phrases like "My excitement increases. My passion grows. Ah!"
And the dance that accompanies the piece, choreographed by Alaska Dance Theatre ballet teacher Courtland Weaver, is "very tasteful," Cochran adds. "Nowhere do you see bumping and grinding.''
But his 165-member chorus will still be three sopranos short for the concert.
"I was prepared pretty much for what happened,'' Cochran said of the singers who decided not to perform the piece. "A few people sending me straightforward, heartfelt messages that they can't do it.''
'TOTAL ARTWORK'
Cochran's goal was to create a complete theater experience for an audience, what he says the composer Wagner once described as "total artwork.''
Orff composed "Catulli Carmina" (Songs of Catullus) as one of what has been called a trio of "scenic cantatas." The other two are the much more familiar "Carmina Burana'' and "Trionfo di Afrodite.''
"Orff recognized that classical music concerts were getting a little staid,'' Cochran said, so he wanted to add text, light, costumes and movement to the music. "Orff wanted to reach out to the audience and give people a spectacle.''
When the Anchorage chorus performed "Carmina Burana" the first of two times nearly 10 years ago, Cochran knew it was meant to be staged differently from a typical concert. He outfitted the singers, all wearing black, in hoods and placed them on sports bleachers some 15 feet above the stage. It made for quite an effect when the curtain opened.
"I will never forget the audible gasp that came from the audience,'' Cochran said. "The visual weight of that moment.''
But drama doesn't come cheap. For the 40-minute Anchorage debut of "Catulli Carmina," the chorus must pay $750 in rights. The typical 20th century chorus piece costs closer to $200, while classics like the Brahms Requiem are free.
Then there's the addition of Alaska Dance Theatre as a guest. They make it "very affordable,'' Cochran said, but it still adds up to a spendier-than-usual concert. And a profit margin often doesn't even exist.
"We traditionally lose money for every concert we do,'' Cochran said. "We'd have to double or triple the ticket prices" to make money. The financial shortfalls are made up by donations and sponsorships.
So Cochran balances riskier shows with ones like the annual Family Holiday Pops, which is less expensive to put on and very popular.
The biggest concern for Cochran is that people learn about the chorus. He said he works hard to "bridge the terrible gap" between the audience and performers. That means talking to them between pieces and making sure they don't worry too much about doing everything just right.
"I so don't care about people clapping in between movements,'' he said.
'LET'S GO UPSTAGE'
ADT's Weaver will never see the ballet he created to go along with the chorus's music. That's because the 42-year-old is performing in it himself.
"I think the hardest thing for me is that I like to watch it; I don't want to be doing it,'' he said. "I'm never really going to be able to see how it all went.''
On a recent afternoon, Weaver coached the six other dancers -- all at least 20 years younger than he is -- while matching them move for move. They leapt into the air, he leapt. For every female dancer 20-year-old Graham Pontarolo lifted, Weaver lifted another. When Pontarolo easily moved into a backward roll, so did Weaver -- all while keeping pace with the thundering, fast-paced music and scrutinizing the others.
"Could you hang off him without locking your elbows, just with your armpits?" he asked Samantha Glifort, 16, stopping her midmovement.
She tried it, and the answer was a clear "no." A moment later, he stopped her again as she leapt into Pontarolo's arms and advised her to lower her heels before springing up.
"See how high you can get all of a sudden?" he told her. Minutes later, he demonstrated how the male dancers should lead the females across the floor.
"Hi, honey, let's go upstage,'' he jokingly said to his partner.
Weaver calls the Alaska Dance Theatre position his first "real job," in which he gets to do the choreography he loves on a full-time basis. He previously danced in Seattle and with a company in France, staging "street performances" at stoplights just for fun. After a marriage there ended, he moved back to the states and got the job here about a year ago.
Now he's performing again because of a dearth of male classical ballet dancers in Anchorage. He says there's not a "real culture" for that type of dance here.
"There's a lot of hip-hop dancers in this town because they see it on MTV,'' he said. "But there's no way you're ever going to make ballet dancing cool.''
So Weaver looked to Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet School for a male dancer who would be willing to perform the piece. Pontarolo came to Anchorage early last week and within hours was being brought up to speed. While not accustomed to Weaver's more contemporary movements, he said learning the steps isn't difficult.
"All dancers know their bodies; they know each muscle,'' he said, adding that he can often watch a movement and know instinctively how to duplicate it.
Having such a major role in this ballet is "refreshing" for him, Pontarolo said, and a nice change from the secondary roles he dances at school.
"I'm up for it,'' he said. "I'm actually just excited.''
MAGNIFICENT SPECTACLE
After seeing the ADT dancers practice some of their movements a couple of weeks ago, Cochran was excited too.
"This is so good,'' he thought while watching them. "This is what I was seeing. I knew it.''
Things haven't gone so smoothly for the chorus. He calls their rehearsals thus far "rough.''
"Orff is not fun to sing,'' he said, adding that the words are unfamiliar and the tempo is killer. "It's almost breathless in its pace. It's about as fast a tempo as I know of.
"That's hard on the chorus because it's not gratifying music to sing. This is hard work.''
That's when Cochran reminds his singers that the point is the spectacle; the fun is in traveling to, not reaching, their destination.
"You take this piece that is unknown to anyone,'' he said. "And you work on it and you work on it, and eight weeks later you have this thing you can be proud of that you made.''
Meanwhile, at Alaska Dance Theatre, Weaver has artistic hurdles of his own. The story line of "Catulli Carmina,'' for one.
It begins with a bunch of young people singing of their "undying devotion" to one another. Then the old men (the chorus's basses) promise to tell them the truth about love. The following songs depict poor Catullus loving and then being betrayed by the beautiful Lesbia.
Incongruously, at the end of the sad tale, the youngsters all resume dancing merrily.
"That's the biggest challenge to us,'' Weaver said. "To go from this big depression to everybody's happy again.''
As he guides his dancers, Weaver also emphasizes the process of creating this piece amid the mayhem, rather than the end result.
"That's what it's all about,'' he said. "This is what we do. It's fun, it's exciting. The point is not to be stressed out, just to enjoy it.''
That's music to Cochran's ears. "They are creating a magnificent spectacle,'' he said of the singers and dancers.
And he's no longer worried that he made a mistake in choosing the piece.
"I know it will be an experience people will remember -- both the singers and the audience," he said. "It's going to be great. I know it. I know it. I feel it.''
Daily News arts editor Susan Morgan can be reached at 257-4587 or smorgan@adn.com.
ANCHORAGE CONCERT CHORUS, accompanied by ALASKA DANCE THEATRE, will perform Carl Orff's "Catulli Carmina'' at 8 p.m. Saturday in Atwood Concert Hall. The first half of the concert will include "love songs throughout the ages.'' Tickets: $22-$26, available at CarrsTix.
