Customer Reviews

Orff-Schulwerk Volume 1: Musica Poetica

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4 star:		(3)
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Carl Orff fans must read the jewel in this CD's booklet found at the bottom of the 6th page from the back in "THE RECORDING" section. It relates the "unwanted merriment on the occasion of Orff's 75th birthday" concerning a performance of the first (and most famous) song in this collection. This recording is great and commences with a rich (though slower) rendition of the "Badlands" theme "Gassenhauer" ("Streetsong") on track 1. Unfortunately, there never was a soundtrack album produced for "Badlands". I can not find any of the other "Badlands" songs from Musica Poetica on this CD and none are on the companion CD "O-S Vol. 2 / Musik fur kinder". "The Best Of Carl Orff", BMG 75605 51357 2, 1999 has the original "Gassenhauer" plus one of the other "Badlands" songs from Musica Poetica - Passion (house fire music). All Badlands Orff/Keetman songs can, however, be found on the 1994 BMG release (RCA Victor Red Seal) 6-CD box set version of the original Orff/Keetman recordings done between 1963 & 1975 on 10 LPs. There are at least 4 other "Badlands" pieces!

vv - Update As of August 9, 2009 - vv
There are at least 5 other "Badlands" pieces (09026 68031 2)! Keetman did two of the other 5 mentioned above, Orff the other 3.
^^ - Update As of August 9, 2009 - ^^

vv - temp Update As of August 15, 2009 - vv
[ADDITION] See my eB@y auctions ending soon under seller ID thedoorsguy for both the 6-CD set & the 10-LP set w/ Buy-It-Now Bonus mp3s of the 6 "Badlands" pieces!
^^ - temp Update As of August 15, 2009 - ^^

Now for the truth: The main theme "Gassenhauer" was composed by Orff's associate Gunild Keetman BASED ON A 1536 WORK FOR LUTE BY HANS NEUSIEDLER! Orff's stated goal for the Schulwerk: "Improvisations which encourage further improvisation". This is precisely what Hans Zimmer did when he PRODUCED (no writing credits on soundtrack CD) 3 pieces loosely based on "Gassenhauer" for the film "True Romance", written by Quentin Tarantino as his tribute to the movie "Badlands": "You're So Cool", "Stars At Dawn", & "Amid The Chaos Of The Day". These are a fine & fitting tribute to Malick, Keetman/Orff, and, yes, especially Nuesiedler - Zimmer did NOT "rip off Orff". Is not imitation the sincereist form of flattery?

Buy this CD today! This is simply beautiful music. However, if you've ever seen the movie TRUE ROMANCE or heard the soundtrack, Hans Zimmer wrote a recurring marimba theme for the scored sections of the film that is almost identical to MUSICA POETICA, and he gave absolutely NO CREDIT to Carl Orff in the liner notes of the CD soundtrack. Sure, as musicians, we are constantly borrowing from each other, but to do such a blatant simulation of someone else's work and not even give them a thank you or simple credit in the liner notes is criminal and cowardly. My respect for Hans Zimmer has greatly dropped. My respect for Carl Orff's music continues to grow.

I love this beautiful, mysterious, somewhat trance inducing music- it is ahead of its time.I completely agree with the reviewer who noted that Hans Zimmer ripped off Orff (ha ha) and as it turns out, the score that Zimmer "wrote" for "True Romance" was in keeping with the whole plagaristic enterprise: "True Romance" is a weak version of the classic "Badlands" all the way down to the score.

Lovely simple charming music, along the lines of works by Bartok, Kodaly and Gurdjeff. A must get for lovers of sonic oddities. Hoping more volumes will be released

From the liner notes: "The more fundamental and simplified the musical expression, the more direct and powerful the effect" - Carl Orff

The film "Badlands" used one of the works appearing on this CD, although the film's music was performed by a different group and recorded much earlier than this CD. The sonics of this CD are outstanding.

This CD is an eclectic collection of music by Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman. There are many interesting and complex melodies like the ones found in Carmina Burana. The variety of instruments is great, including xylophones, woodblocks, voice, violins, flutes, and more. There are songs which sound very modern and also songs which sound like they're from the Middle Ages. This CD is of high quality and worth getting, especially if you enjoyed Carmina Burana.

Most people's first taste of Carl Orff comes from his grand sweeping, 'Carmina Burana' score but few often hear some of his more delicate and simple works. Orff-Schulwerk is literally music that Orff composed for students. The compositions are broken up by the particular instrument they were written for and are simple, brief, and quite and enjoyable listen. If you are of German descent you will appreciate this even more as Orff incorporates German folk music in to some of the compositions.

Brief Trivia: The first track was used in the Terrence Malick's, "Badlands".

Producto raro y dificil de conseguir en tiendas en México. Lo recomiendo para fanaticos de la música general.

I would agree that this disc represents the flip side of Carl Orff's music. More precisely, it is music he wrote for music education. While many of the pieces are interesting they are works for students and not necessarily for public performance. Certainly, the music here will not be to everyone's taste or interest. The music is well recorded and performed and offers us a glimpse into the career of Carl Orff the teacher.

My two boys love this cd. When my first child was a mere 8 months, I could instantly calm him down by putting this in and playing it for less than a minute.

I think it is a must for every parent's music library.