Customer Reviews

Orff: Carmina Burana

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

 

 

This 1969 Ozawa Boston Sym. "Carmina" ( recorded four years prior to his appointment as BSO music director ) is FAR preferable to his much later - late 80's version with The Berlin Philharmonic on Philips. Speeds are just right here, the Berlin one is much too fast and less joyous. Indeed, one should be far more moved here. The 1969 analog sound is excellent ( the sound seems to get just a wee bit better with each subsequent re-issue ). I will even go so far as to say that this IS THE "Carmina" to get. A great performance indeed. The fact that this recording has NEVER been out of print since its' very first Lp incarnation should attest to that.

I havn't heard ALL of the Carmina Burana's but I went through at least three before I settled on this one as my favorite. The tempo is right, the sound quality is fantasitc, and the performance is top notch. Every time I listen to this CD it sends me on an emotional roller coaster ride. I highly recommend it.

There's a reason this 1969 recording has never gone out of print--it's the definitive version for most people across the spectrum of taste. It is a dynamic, forceful and dramatic reading that gives space to the individual sections without losing the architecture of the broader whole. Rhythmically peppy, it is pretty well together without dragging the tempo, a considerable achievement with so many different choral forces involved. The singing by the boys' chorus is especially good and well captured for once. Foremost among the soloists is the great opera baritone Sherrill Milnes, who sings authoritatively and covers the music's demands from full-voiced gusto to mixed-voice and falsetto delicacy--all with fine clarity and diction. The section where he and the boys' chorus echo one another and then sing together is a delight. Poor Stanley Kolk has the tenor-killer aria (some recordings substitute a different voice); he lands all the notes and sings with the right attitude for the text. The part is so gruellingly written I've yet to hear a tenor really pull this passage off with perfect security without having to belt it out like the town cryer, and this version is no different. Evelyn Mandac sings the very high soprano part about as well as it can be sung. The whole effort has the feel of a live performance, it's done with so much verve and gusto--it nearly threatens to spin out of control once or twice, but never does. Very deserving of RCA's Red Seal and then Gold Seal designations of quality!

This is easy: this re-issue has excellent remastered sound, the Boston Symphony bounces and sparkles, the chorus is strident and lusty and Ozawa never lets it become bloated and dragging. I don't think this recording has aged at all. It is still the definitive statement, I think, of Orff's fantastical work on fate, love and everything in between. It also includes complete text with translations. And for this price, too?! Highly recommended.

Aesthetic quality/sound quality (out of 10): 10/10

The Cd was wonderful! I sing with a community chorale who is in the process of rehearsing this work to perform with a symphony orchestra. The recording has been very helpful.

Carmina Burana is one of those works that truly surprises and fills one's hart with emotions. This version of this composition is so well done in every aspect that if you are considering to have this work, I think is the choice to make, not only the singers are great, but the orchesta is also superb, and the quality of the recording really amazes me. Is because of all this that I give it a 5 start review.

If this recoding is so highly rated, I wish someone would put up the excepts as other sellers have done. There are 262+- Carmina Buranas on Amazon, why is this one so much better than the other 262? This one is rated in the top ten. I had to get to number 200+ plus before I heard a performance directed by someone who knew how to pronounce the words and how the casting of the spells worked along with the music. If you've lost me, go back and listen to Merlin's pronunciation of the words he is using as he casts the spells of the movie EXCALIBUR. It's the same language. As one who's done both, I know. Don't forget the story that's it's about drinking songs, but this work is about another kind of drunkedness. The words are not what they may seem to translate onto paper, that's why it dosen't matter if you understand them or not, it's how you hear them that creates the energy and comunincates the message.It's about a people who live,love and die as we do, and who put the their hope in a God who loves them, who tells them His secrets and whose name is The Terrible (Holy Terror). They live and laugh and fear no other peoples because they know Him and his Love and Protection for them. The songs (many of them) are a series of magic spells, secrets of wisdom or public prayers if you will,in this secret language, to call upon this god. It's basically about how they are a happy & a powerful people who are rewarded in extaordinary life by knowing this God. Not a bad story, huh?

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