Customer Reviews

Carmina Burana: Medieval Poems and Songs

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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-.

I originally purchased this album because of one song: Bacche Bene Venies. I have heard countless versions of this song from varying quality ensembles.

Out of all the arrangements of any of the original Carmina Buranas, this album contains all of them. The always-brilliant Ensemble Unicorn has once again captured the mood of the music, showing the listener what these songs and poems really were: (often very filthy) drinking songs and poems for the medieval pilgrim. This album is a must have for the early music enthusiast.

Carmina Burana: Medieval Poems and Songs is recording that showcases some of the best of mideval music and poetry and shows the mideval times to be a time filled with intelligence, culture and refinement and fun. The recording is led by Marco Ambosini who leads the ONi Wytars and Michael Posch who leads Ensemble Unicorn on this Naxos recording from 1997. The lyrics are available in Latin and English. Highly recommended indeed. 5/5.

I have had the thrill of performing the Carl Orff's Carmina Burana a number of times over the years - and as much as I loved that version, I was totally transported to the time and place of the originals by this recording - there really IS nothing new under the sun - these emotions and agonies and delights so exquisitely performed in this recording are both ancient and current - loved this work -

Unlike Carl Orff's version of Camina Burana, this one is as close to what the people may have sang back when. It is refreshing and worth while to hear the songs and words instead of being blown out of your seat by "hollywood" stylings

Wished there was an option to hear what was on the CD before the purchase. I wanted the actual musical named Carmina Burana and thought the Medieval Poems and Songs would be similar, but I personally do not like the "music" or "songs" on this CD. Just a personal preference.