Carmina Burana: Medieval Poems and Songs

Carmina Burana Anonymous (Composer), Bernhard Landauer (Performer), Ensemble Oni Wytars (Performer), Ensemble Unicorn (Performer), Eric Mentzel (Performer), Peter Rabanser (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Bernhard Landauer, Ensemble Oni Wytars, Ensemble Unicorn, Eric Mentzel, Peter Rabanser
• Composer: Carmina Burana Anonymous
• Audio CD (October 22, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B00006GO42
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,227 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A feisty little musical riot, July 12, 2005

By 

Sator (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carmina Burana: Medieval Poems and Songs (Audio CD)

If you've ever been even slightly curious as to how Medieval secular music might have sounded but were unsure if it was for you this is a great place to start. At this price Naxos makes musical terra incognita much easier to explore. The results here are an absolute riot and are barrels of fun. There is life, rhythm and colour in abundance - all of which makes it irresistible from start to finish. The only word of warning is that this definitely NOT Gregorian chant and if that is what you want you will be in for a huge shock. The music here is gregarious, bawdy and populated with drunkards and virgins being deflowered. It is really all completely over the top.

As always Michael Posch is to be thoroughly commended for the sheer spontaneity of the musical feast that he unfailingly serves up. Too often music making of Medieval music seems awfully dry and academic - whereas this is way too riotous for that, even though a good deal of musicological research has gone to recreating Medieval performing practice.

The final carrot to go and buy this recording is the fantastic recorded sound. Naxos you have put many a major recording firm to utter shame with this release, who all to frequently demand several times the price for dreadful recordings/transfer - with Virgin Classics being the worst offender. Audiophiles after a miraculous bargain should pounce at the oppurtunity. Soundstaging is glorious, with air around the instruments, balance, detail, focus balanced by some warmth. It is all there for the taking!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is it..., August 29, 2005

By 

Nicolas Kamas (Blanco, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carmina Burana: Medieval Poems and Songs (Audio CD)

This is easily my favorite of the Ensemble Unicorn albums, providing an excellent contrast to Carl Orff's far more modern rendition (especially track 13). This CD is a must have, and three of the tracks, Bache, Bene Venies, Vite perdite, and Tempus est iocundum stand out as some of the best renditions of early music that I have ever heard.

This recording blends the impeccable balance of the instrumentation with excellent vocals, (listen for Bernhard Landauer and Eric Mentzel, the countertenor and tenor, respectively). This is as much as you could ask for, and certainly more than you could expect, in an Early Music recording.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More fine familiar material from Ensemble Unicorn, March 19, 2003

By 

S. Gustafson "Holy Roman Emperor" (New Albany, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Carmina Burana: Medieval Poems and Songs (Audio CD)

Ensemble Unicorn and Oni Wytars, as I've noted in other reviews here, seem to shine especially on one-line monodic material where the performers must make their own arrangements. This is music tailor made to that approach --- especially since not all of the poems have their own tunes, and those that do have them recorded in hard to read neumes rather than staff notation. Melodies for the poems with no music at all are often borrowed from other period pieces.

The arrangements may be too busy for some early music purists, but they are quite entertaining, and the experience of listening to this is more like listening to a pop or folk record than classical music. That makes this recording the most consistently listenable record of the material since Thomas Binkley's versions of twenty years ago. High points of this record are the fine performance of the timely -Ecce torpet probitas- and the duelling fiddles of -Clauso Chronos-. You also get the near-mandatory -Exiit diluculo- and -Tempus est jocundum-.