Customer Reviews

Orff: Carmina Burana

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a very good modern recording of the beloved
"carmina burana". The conducting is vigorous. The orchestra, chior and three soloists are excellent.
Sumi jo is a delight- her "in trutina" and "stetit puela" are delicious.

Dare I suggest that given a good conductor, an enthusiastic, well-trained choir and a competent orchestra, this piece is not that hard to pull off on disc? I mean no disrespect to the music or the performers by saying so, but I own three equally good recordings and know of half a dozen more which give similar pleasure. Either that, or it has been very lucky on disc; either way, this is another fine addition to the discography. The sound is clean and vivid, Mehta paces everything beautifully and the soloists are first rate - especially Sumi Jo (although her sustained lower notes are not as secure as other sopranos' - it's in the stratosphere that she excels). Bo Skhovus is in the same mould as Håken Hakegård: a virile, incisive bariton-martin with an extended upper range, although I think the older artist still has the edge in the Mata recording. I like Kowalski's alto version of the roasted swan-song, although for real vocal thrills I commend John Aler's full-voice account (again on the Mata disc): an extraordinary feat, as it never sounds strained, just pained! A third way of doing this "aria" is Gerhard Unger's method on the famous de Burgos recording: he slips into falsetto when required. I like all three ways of doing it, but admire and enjoy Aler most of all. De Burgos also employs two different baritones: one for the more robust, declamatory bits and another for the laments with the higher tessitura; that works too, especially with two such good singers as John Noble and Raymond Wolansky. That recording also has the lovely Lucia Popp, whose sustained breath is a thing of beauty, but Barabara Hendricks and Sumi Jo are equally impressive in their different ways. The best choir of all is de Burgos' New Philharmonia Chorus but there is a fair amount of tape hiss in the pre-digital 1966 recording and all three choirs on all three discs are committed and exciting. I am going round in circles here: what I am saying is that you could be happy with any of the three I mention (Mata, de Burgos or Mehta), though I would, if pushed, opt for the Mata as my favourite. A welcome libretto is provided, despite this being a budget edition - which is more than any other bargain version I know, so I won't moan about the few misprints in the Latin...

I am very glad with this CD. I enjoy the music. There was also included text of poems -in Latin and in English, very convinient.

Carmina Burana is not a work that is easily well recorded.
Similarly, this London Philharmonic version under Zubin Mehta does not escape the fate of an 'ill-recorded' performance.
The soloists are simply miked too far away - way too far.
Sumi Jo suffers in particular, given the light-weight of her soprano.
Hers isn't the best of lirico leggiero sopranos - the timbre is whitish, though admittedly agile and well articulated. The aria with the girls could have been more spirited and joyous.
The strength of this recording lies in the two male soloists.
Given the scarcity in liner notes, I am unable to tell who is who - is the falsetto tenor singing ALL the falsetto arias, or was he alternating with the baritone? Boje Skovhus was fully capable of tackling BOTH the hefty bits and the high-lying tessituras back in 2000.
The choir sung well, but not exceptionally so.
All in all, a competent performance, which, with better recording, could have been rated higher.
The soloists in particular are worthy of credit. The young Skovhus being exceptional among the three.

An excellent rendition of a 20th century classical classic. A pure pleasure to sit and absorb, over and over again. The conducting is enthusiastic and precise as one might expect from Mehta, and the orchestra is as superb as one might expect as well.

Wonderful...however, the sound varies so widely from barely audible to booming that it finds me often adjusting the volume. For this reason, I'm not listening to this CD as much as I'd like.

Having heard many versions of Orff's Carmina Burana, I find this one as the best one available in the market.
One may expect a beautiful performance each time you hear the London Phihlarmonic Orchestra, but the value added of master Zubin Metha's baton, Sumi Jo's voice and the boys' choir, make all toegether - at least on my appreciation - a classic and unforgetable version. Enjoy it!

Just happened to hear a little of "Carmina Barana" on television a few months ago, and it was instant love. Chose one of the "Carmina" offerings on Amazon and played it more than any other CD I've ever owned. So that it would not wear out, I purchased a second "Carmina," this time a different rendering to enable me to hear another interpretation.

dear all

the product is amazing and so easily available on ur site
Problem is that your delivery system is not foolproof and has a lot of loopholes due to which every time i order something online fr4om amazon it takes
1 over a month to reach me
2 has a tendency to get lost
3 Im always at the edge of my seat when i order as i am not given a tracking no
POINTERS / SUGGESTIONS
1 We the client should be provided with a customer service no to call locally to track our shipment
2 we should be provided with a tracking no for the international travel of the package & subsequently the local tracking no.
3 sms alerts/ email alerts should be started to keep us posted on where the package is.
Customer service feedback mailers:
the people who reply to the mails are prompt and very helpful(keep it up)
they have always helped me out as i have faced difficulty in receiving the packages ordered."kudos"
Thank you
Rgds
Feroza Cooper

I loved the CD of the classical music piece. It was in excellent condition!