Camina Barana
Resurrected by Karl Orff, from the caves of a Monastery in Germany, the manuscripts of a large collection of Georgian Chants were put together, re-scored into the beautiful suite represented here.
Under Eugene Normandy, there is nothing quite like it in all of music. It is music directly from the Middle Ages that touches the soul in deep unexpected ways and in unexpected areas. Although Camina Barana is in the same class as Handel's Messiah, in my estimation it is better, richer; oddly even more modern: The mixture of choral and symphonic counterpoint and musical motifs is always not just interesting but hauntingly surprising. But more than this, the music has an urgency about it that is post-Modern, relentless, taunting, agitating and compelling. It grabs the aesthetic nerves by the throat and holds on through all of the arias and symphonic explosions as if for dear life.
The suite is often performed during the Christmas holidays for some unknown reasons - maybe it's the sentimentality. On several occasions we have seen it performed in local churches. We saw it performed on stage at the National Theater in Washington, D.C. last year and it was a singularly unforgettable experience. Music rarely gets better than this and this version is the best I have heard. Five Stars
See all 29 tracks on this disc
