[.ca] Carmina Burana

Amazon.com essential recording:
At first glance, this doesn't seem like conductor Riccardo Muti's cup of tea. It's a work without many subtleties, one that seems to need a policeman more than an interpreter. But Muti lets it rip--the joyous moments are superb, the mock-sentimental moments charming, changes in rhythm properly jarring, and the energy level very high. Soprano Arleen Auger almost makes her high-flying part seem simple. Warning: The louds are very loud. --Robert Levine

Powerful music:
-- Carmina Burana -- Carmina Burana is a large German manuscript from which Carl Orff drew his famous modern setting. The manuscript was discovered in a Benedictine monastery in the mid-19th century in Bavaria, and subsequently named Carmina Burana. It is very extensive, with lyrics from Occitania, France, England, Scotland, Catalonia, Castile, Germany and beyond. Many texts are in Latin. However, the majority of the texts do not include melodies (which is not uncommon for compositions of the time). These have to be recreated based on the structure of texts or other cues (such as pitch), or other markers alluding to well-known medieval melodies from other sources. The include of Gregorian chant, and other musical styles such as the music of Troubadours, Trouveres, and Minnesingers can be heard distinctly. In that tradition, many of these songs are far from sacred texts, but rather can be ribald and scathing at times in their wit toward the world in which they were composed. Yet there are also graceful love songs and other wonderful pieces here, too. Carl Orff took many of the pieces and put them together as a complete set with new orchestrations - it was a lofty ambition, as could be seen from the subtitle Orff gave to the piece: Cantiones profanae contoribus et choris cantandae comitantibus instrumentis atque imaginibus magicis (which roughly translates into 'Secular \oor even profane\c songs for solo vocalist and choir with instruments and magical pictures'). Orff made statements about seeking the spiritual in this music, but in fact neither the lyrics nor the music is really church-appropriate. I do agree with others who comment on the variable volume on this disc; apart from that, the performances are magnificent, with real power and depth to the voices and strength to the instruments.

Neo-Classically fantastic:
My Music Appreciation professor used clips of this work when giving us samples of what Neo-Classic music sounds like. And I fell so much in love with it. In reagards to the complaints about the sudden changes in volume (soft to instantly loud or vice versa), it's called terraced dynamics. It's supposed to be like that. :)

I'm breathless........:
I've always LOVED o fotuna but i never heard of the song till i heard the song and the name one day. Needless to say, I was on a bit of a rant/quest to find out about this song and if it's all true what I had heard. Sure enough, the name and composer of the song were right and now listening to it after knowing a little more about the song, I'm just become breathless after hearing it. Yeah I'm can get little weird with symphony, orchastra, or choir/opera music like that. Well, just wanted to get my opinion out about what I think is one of the best songs I've heard on the track.

I think my eardrums exploded...:
Well, I absolutly adore Carmina Burana. The only reason this recording gets 4 stars instead of 5 was because the volume levels are insane. I picked up this little piece in New York City while roaming Times Square. I hadn't had a chance to listen to it until the next day when I popped it into my CD player once I got on my plane back home to California. I noticed it was rather quiet so I turned up my volume to maximum, figuring it was just a quiet recording... After several moments of very quiet listening this intense sound explodes in my ear and I nearly fell out of my seat. The volume levels on this recording are insane. Sometimes I have to have the volume to the max just to hear every part of a certain track, other times I have to have the volume down to 1 or 2 so I don't go deaf. Aside from the really drastic volume fluctuations the piece itself was really nice, though I do prefer the Joschum/Dieskau recording more. Despite the horrible volume levels this does make a nice edition to any Carmina Burana fan's collection.

Brilliant. This is my favorite recording of Orff:
I absolutely love this CD and take it on any trips I go to. The balance during songs is near perfect. As other reviewers have pointed out, the volume levels are rather exaggerated, but that's one thing I enjoy about the CD. There performance of the four tavern songs are exceptionably notable, and is my favorite section of the CD. This is definitely my favorite recording, and many others consider it one of the top. Definitely a must-have if you're an Orff fan.

• Carmina Burana: Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi: I. O Fortuna
• Carmina Burana: Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi: II. Fortune plango vulnera
• Carmina Burana: III. Veris leta facies
• Carmina Burana: IV. Omnia Sol temperat
• Carmina Burana: V. Ecce gratum
• Carmina Burana: VI. Tanz
• Carmina Burana: VII. Floret silva nobilis
• Carmina Burana: VIII. Chramer, gip die varwe mir
• Carmina Burana: IX. Reie
• Carmina Burana: X. Were diu werlt alle min
• Carmina Burana: XI. Estuans interius
• Carmina Burana: XII. Olim lacus colueram
• Carmina Burana: XIII. Ego sum abbas
• Carmina Burana: XIV. In taberna quando sumus
• Carmina Burana: XV. Amor volat undique
• Carmina Burana: XVI. Dies, nox et omnia
• Carmina Burana: XVII. Stetit puella
• Carmina Burana: XVIII. Circa mea pectora
• Carmina Burana: XIX. Si puer cum puellula
• Carmina Burana: XX. Veni, Venivenias
• Carmina Burana: XXI. In trutina
• Carmina Burana: XXII. Tempus est iocundum
• Carmina Burana: XXIII. Dulcissime Blanziflor Et Helena
• Carmina Burana: XXIV. Ave formosissima
• Carmina Burana: XXV. O Fortuna