Orff: Carmina Burana / McNair, Aler, Hagegard; Slatkin
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Free Music Notes for Orff: Carmina Burana / McNair, Aler, Hagegard; Slatkin
Free Music Review: Phenomenal and over the top
Hit: 4 Stars
This is the first Carmina Burana I heard, so I'm attached to it, and a little biased. After listening to a number of recordings out there, I'd say that it's still my favorite as far as intensity and passion--some of the tempi are a little far out, but I think that suits the spirit of the piece. McNair and Hagegard are phenomenal, and the tenor Aler acquits himself well with this insanely ranging tenor solo.
I think it's an excellent first recording, but perhaps not *absolute* perfection. The cover is a bit silly, but perhaps the composer would approve--it is, after all, a ribald and orgiastic romp through some very sensual text and music.
Free Music Review: The Best Carmina Burana
Hit: 5 Stars
1. The work is very similar to an opera, highly dramatic and driven by text.
2. Opera is about voices, and this recording of Carmina has bar none the best collection of soloists on record.
3. While I do not consider myself an expert in orchestral sound or conducting, in my opinion the orchestra and chorus sound very good, not perfect, but very good. It seems to me that the style of this work does not call for an overly "constructed" sound from the orchestra. If you peruse the text you might gleen a little insight, as form should follow function. IMHO the sound from the orchestra and chorus are fitting for the meaning they are trying to convey.
4. Several people have given this recording bad ratings, and yet there seem to be a lack of noted material defect. If you think Slatkin's conducting is so bad, please fill us all in on why. Neurotic posts such as:
ONE OF THE WORST PERFORMENCES OF THIS WORK THAT THERE IS.IT IS AS IF SLATKIN WERE CONDUCTING THE SAINT LOUIS SYMPHONY WITH A HORROR MOVIE IN FRONT OF THEM.GET OZOWA/BOSTON SYNPHONY 1969 CLASSIC PERFORMENCE AND CHARLES DUTIOT/MONTREAL SYNPHONY
don't do much - and perhaps you could also do us all the favor of reaching your uncoordinated left hand pinky finger to the left of the A button and turning off caps lock, along with taking some spelling lessons. That would be just super. Thanks.
Free Music Review: The Best Carmina Burana recording
Hit: 5 Stars
I have attended concerts, owned vinyls, owned taped versions and have this CD. This CD is so good that I bought another copy to give to our neighbors who had just attended a local concert of the piece.
The recording quality is excellent, the voices superb. I particularly enjoy the energy of the pieces. The spectral frequency range is excellent, although the volume range is too large with quiet pieces being to quiet and loud sections being overly loud. I fear this just the technical difficulty of recording such a large assembly of musicians the way the hearer perceives it.
I recommend this to anyone and everyone who admires Orff's work.
Free Music Review: My favorite CARMINA BURANA
Hit: 5 Stars
This is my favorite recording of Orff's CARMINA BURANA. No, I have not heard every commercially available recording (at the very least, I've heard snippets from many), but from what I have encountered in the past, I can enthusiastically say that THIS is the recording to own if you want to hear this work with all of the primal power you'd hope for.
Leonard Slatkin leads a top-notch St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with an almost maniacal vigor. The tempi are perhaps the quickest I've ever heard, which suits me fine. (Nothing more exciting than loud, agressive orchestral music!) Soprano Sylvia McNair is simply outstanding as is the baritone Hakan Hagegard, but I was slightly less impressed with the tenor John Aler whose vocal tone I found somewhat unappealing.
The engineering on this CD, thankfully, is bright and up front. Unlike many CARMINA recordings, the sound levels remain consistant across the board, so there won't be much need to continuously turn the volume up and down as the music alternates between loud and soft.
Highly recommended for CARMINA BURANA fans, as well as for anyone who likes a little bombast every now and again.
Free Music Review: Explosive "Carmina" From The Heartland Of America
Hit: 5 Stars
Carl Orff's hour-long cantata "Carmina Burana" must rank as the single most popular choral work of the 20th century. Because of this, of course, there have also been many recordings of it--dozens in fact, from Eugen Jochum's 1968 recording with the Deutsche Opera of Berlin, to Andre Previn's 1974 London Symphony recording, and beyond.
For my money, though (and this is not to take away from the other great recordings of the piece on hand), the most explosive recording of this piece comes from the heartland of America. With superior vocalists Sylvia McNair, Hakan Hagegard, and John Aler on hand, Leonard Slatkin leads his St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in this 1992 recording that generates much passion and violence with its mix of sacred Latin chants and sometimes politically incorrect and profane dialogue.
The recording is spectacular from start to finish, but there are moments that I think stand out especially: "Olim Lacus Colueram", done by Aler; Hagegard's solo turn on "Ego Sum Annad Cacaniensis"; McNair's on "Dulcissime"; and the St. Louis Chorus itself on "O Fortuna", which bookends this gigantic work. It is no wonder that its medieval sound and text inspired much in the way of movie music, including THE OMEN and even parts of the music for the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy ("O Fortuna", in fact, was used in the 1981 film EXCALIBUR).
This recording is vigorously recommended, even if you already own other recordings of it. Slatkin's interpretation stands up well compared with the many other fine recordings also available.