Customer Reviews

Orff: Carmina Burana

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Being somewhat of a fanatic about Carmina Burana, I have had occasion to listen to several recordings of these songs.

This recording is, without a doubt, the best one there is. From the opening of 'O Fortuna', where the silence speaks as eloquently as the crash of the music, through the solos of the sorpranos at the end, which makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, it is so clear and pure, the performance is superb.

If you've ever heard 'O Fortuna' in many of the movies that it appears in, you should buy this CD without hesitation and listen to it.

I have compaired this recording against James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Chorus & Orchestra DDD recording and much prefer the latter. To my ear, I prefer the sound from the middle of row 6 in the Orchestra to SRO in the back of a very large auditorium. Specifically the Previn recording sounds muted. Aditionally, the pace of the Previn recording is often too slow. The Levine recording shows the brilliant clarity of a full digital which can be off putting for some, but in this performance is quite stunning. If I did not have Levine's recording to compare against, I would have happily given Previn's a 5 rating.

"Carmina Burana" has been used countless times in Movies and on TV ever since Karl Orff wrote it in 1937, including in the Films Excalibur, Doors, My First Wife (and imitated in many others, such as The Omen); UK TV ads for Old Spice; BBC2's Timewatch and many more. Although Orff's best music is in "Schulwerk" of 1930-35, Carmina Burana, and "O Fortuna" in particular have a more popular appeal, due to it's heavy percussions, precise choruses and unbeatable music.

Orff resurrected the medieval poems or songs (Carmina)written in the monastary of Beuren (Burana). These songs were found in 1803 in the German province of Bavaria and Orff wrote music for them. This music conjures up the ectasy expressed in the lyrics, an enhanced intense feeling for life akin to the passions and revelry of the wandering poets of so long ago.

But for listeners like you and me, who probably are used to thinking of Classical music as consisting of big fat yodelling ladies wearing pointed hats, or music that is plain sedate, Carmina Burana pleads to the contrary. A lively and sometimes funny portrayal of medeival life and a fair poke at the nobility of that era.

Hats off to EMI Classics for re-mastering and repackaging this 1975 recording of the king of chestnuts, Carl Orff's ever-popular CARMINA BURANA, subtitled 'A scenic cantata for soloists, choruses & orchestra'. There likely is not an orchestra today that hasn't performed this work - at times for fundraisers, at times by public demand, and at times because it, well, is a terrifically exciting work. Though there are countless fine recordings of this massive piece (including some fine ones of the chamber version with reduced chorus, two pianos and percussion) by some of the biggest and smallest orchestras in the world, this recording surpasses them all. And each recording has its particular merits: varying quality of choral singing, varying children's choruses, a mixture of soloists with some being outstanding while others on the same recording being only passable, quality of orchestral sound, and quality of conductor.

For this listener, owning a legion of recordings of the work, the one recording that seems to hit the bell on every count is this recording by André Previn conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and the St. Clement Danes Grammar School Boys' Choir with tenor Gerald English, baritone Sir Thomas Allen, and soprano Sheila Armstrong. Previn's conception of the work embraces all the gaudy wildness of the original 'secular' texts and at the same time tames them into fluid lines as contrasts - the yin and yang of Carmina Burana. For example, original statements by orchestra and/or chorus are bitingly staccato and percussive while his recapitulations are more connected and smoothly melodic. It makes each of the sections of the cantata endlessly fascinating.

Sheila Armstrong floats the 'In trutina' like few other better-known sopranos have recorded. Sir Thomas Allen sings his solos with perfect diction and ravishingly beautiful tone. Gerald English knows just how far to push the roasted swan piece, never making it mawkish, always keeping it musical but humorous. The chorus is exemplary - rich in sound, perfect in pronunciation, able to span the spectrum of dynamics like few others.

This is a rousing performance, one that respects the quality of the work and finds the subtleties in the interplay of the forces, yet in the end is celebratory, sensuous and joyous. For this listener it is perfect! No wonder EMI has placed it in the revered Great Recordings of the Century category. Grady Harp, February 07

This song is the most beautiful and sharpest sounding recordings of Carmina Burana that I have yet heard. There is such little interference that I must say that there is little to nothing scratchy, or poorly done about this album. All of the singers did a great job at not showing off too much or trying to modify their voices to surpass each other. The best thing about it is that All of the singers have, in my opinion, the best voices for the job. All of them together sounds harmonious and they don't sound like they're battling over correct or different pronunciations, as I have heard in other albums. Simply an incredible album and, to anyone reading this, I highly recommend that you purchase this because the sound quality is marvelously superior to any of the others that I have heard.

Andre Previn's mid-70s version of _Carmina Burana_ is a winner. The closely-miked orchestra delivers a _con brio_ performance; the soloists and the choruses are excellent. My only caveat is that the final climax of the "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" is taken slower than I'm used to--it delivers a correspondingly lesser kick, which is a bit of a letdown. But if you can only afford one recording of this 20th Century classic, you won't go far wrong with this.

This is one of the best classical CD's out there featuring Carmina Burana, those of you who know the song "O Fortuna" from the countless movies it has been in need to hear how it was meant to sound because none of the scenes i have seen this song in have done it anywhere near the justice that it deserves. All of the songs deliver that emotion raising sensation that so many of todays songs fail to deliver in a big way. This is a great buy for any lover of Orff or classical music and a great experience for anyone who is not familiar with classical music, give it a try i will be willing to bet you will love it.

This is a good performance although I think Previn's tempos are a little ponderous. My main beef is that this is an analog recording remastered for digital cd's. Some of the brilliance and dynamic range that we have come to expect from modern digital recordings is missing in this re master. Except for those concerns it's a pretty good performance.

I must admit that I am not a big fan of Carmina Burana. I enjoy it, but in small doses. Still, I highly recommend this recording for people who love Orff's best-known opus more than I do. Previn has an intelligent, consistent interpretation that is fully realized by the wonderful London Symphony Orchestra. The recording, originally released on vinyl, is richly recaptured in the CD.

While doing research for my Master's dissertation which was on Carmina Burana, I did a comparative study of several Carmina Burana recordings: this one in my opinion was among the worst. While the singing and orchestral playing is very solid, the tempos are largely too slow to capture the intensity of emotion expected by modern audiences of this peice, having heard it excerpted by so many Hollywood films. Previn's approach to conducting somehow seems to remove a lot of the excitement and lustre of this incredible composition: I strongly recommend a different recording, such as Levine or Eugene Jochum.