Customer Reviews

Orff: Carmina Burana [Hybrid SACD]

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

 

 

Wow! Holy cow! What a performance! What a recording! Did I tell you that I L-O-V-E this recording?

For those of you who refer to Orff's semi-minimalist work as "Carmina Bore-anna," try this recording on for size. This is the most exciting performance of this much- (if not over-) recorded work I've ever heard, with the sonics of Telarc and SACD to boot. Imaging is magnificent. I can point to the exact spot left of center where the bass drummer did his work. Baritone soloist Earle Patriarco stands just to the right (from my perspective) of my center speaker, and soprano Hei-Kyung Hong stands by his right arm. Tenor Stanford Olsen is on the opposite side of the center speaker. You say you like dynamic range? Buy 500 watt amplifiers, sturdy speakers, and stand back. Whoa!!!

Patriarco's performance of the "Ego sum abbas" recitative (I suppose you could call it) is a perfect combination of control, irreverence, and humor that section requires but seldom gets. Hong's light soprano on the "Dulcissime totam" brings out goose bumps and sets up the finale magnificently. The singing of the Atlanta Symphony Chorus has not faded one iota since the death of its beloved director, Robert Shaw. His teaching happily stuck and won't let go. This is simply the finest chorus in the country, if not the world.

Do not walk, do not run, do not even drive, but FLY to purchase this recording.

I'll leave out the hi-fi jargon like "bright" and "thin" and just say that high-end listeners judge a CD ( generally ) by two basic factors: the performance of the musicians and the quality of the recording done by the engineers. This performance is at least a 4.5 ( of five ) for me and 3 on the recording quality.

This piece is popularly known for its very moving overture. Unfortunately, the percussion during the overture is recorded so prominently that the thunderous booms of the drums almost completely wash out the rest of the orchestra and, even worse, the choir. This robs the piece of most of its emotional appeal. In stead of enjoying the opening it makes me feel like I should duck and cover my ears from the percussive bombs being dropped. The rest of disc is great, but without the famous overture half the appeal of the CD is gone. Finally, the recording quality is just a little above average.

Is it worth owning? If you own more than one performance of this work ( especially if you have an SACD player ), yes. If not, I would say find another recording that has a more enjoyable overture.

Surely this is one of the best recordings of this unique masterwork and,I must say, can fairly rival that of Shaw/Telarc. Everything fits into place in this CD--musicwise! Recommended.

I absolutely second what Dennis Brandt wrote in his customer review back in 2007. This is the 'Carmina Burana' I've been waiting for -the soloists/chorus (even the kids..) are responding to the words. Everyone is clearly having fun, and this treasured chestnut should be fun and not performed like a performance of an Elgar oratorio! It's about spring, love, aching with desire (e.g. horny!). And this performance just oozes springtime. And it sounds like the timpanist borrowed the hammer from a perfomance of the Mahler 6th - and that's a compliment. It truly revitalizes the much over-worked 'O Fortuna" and make you sit-up and take notice. This, IMHO, is one of Telarc's best SACD recording - it needs to be heard in SACD. I cannot praise this performance and recording enough. Indulge yourself.

This is a compressed & flat sounding disc (refering to the 2 ch layer in the sacd), very disappointing.

I have many Telarc recordings and know they have a reputation for high quality recordings. So when I bought this SACD I was expecting the same. Sorry to say, this recording is actually quite bad, especially the first part, and I couldn't believe this came from Telarc. The original 2 channel CD release (from many years ago) from Telarc is far superior to this recording. VERY dissappointing!