Orff: Carmina Burana

I gather from reading through the other comments that several listeners find this disc wanting. I'm really quite happy with it. So happy in fact, that I rank it high among my personal bests. The others include Robert Shaw in Atlanta (Telarc, SACD), Jochum in Berlin (red book CD), Tilson Thomas in Cleveland (red book), Plasson in Toulouse (red book).

To my ears the first thing to treasure on this disc is the rich playing of the Vienna Philharmonic. They have shine and tonal depth in each and every department. Yet their forward drive hardly ever falls short of connoting a special sort of musical elegance. I guess maybe it is a James Bond thang - a strikingly handsome action hero with plenty of muscle, sipping shaken martinis with one hand while using deadly martial arts on the other hand to keep a whole gaggle of bad guys at bay. With Vienna, the impossible western classical music orchestra becomes more than possible.

And all that yumminess, caught live in concert. Whew. I think I've just gotten a nice box of designer chocolates, sprinkled with coke powder. Or something else, surpassing, strange.

The choruses are completely on point, too. So far as my ears can hear. They have just as much musical eight to carry as the band; and nobody fell asleep the night this one was being sung. Yes, conductor Andre Previn paces some sections of this forward-driving cantata more slowly, and he takes the tempo space as an effective opportunity to draw out all the color, expressiveness, and vocal or instrumental detail - that seemingly inexhaustible showmanship-display which Orff seems to have been able to write into this piece. If the instrumental players and the choruses were not capable of significant tonal heft and contrast and color, framed in precisely etched rhythmic acumen, slower tempos would probably make me sleepy, going all soft into the sofa. Hardly the case, folks. Previn's tempos are not all that extreme or eccentric anyways; and given the talent on this disc, his reading ends up sounding like Rolls Royce transportation to Orff-ian musical realms.

Yes, of course, I wish all this had been captured in super audio surround sound. Regular red book stereo hardly seems like the absolute sonic best an engineer in Vienna could do. But, contrarily. My ears tell me this red book recording comes across as well as any other of the best ones I have sitting on my fav shelves. I thought maybe I could pick up the alleged flaws or lacks by listening on high quality headphones. But no, as usual, the headphones just brought all the goodness home, close up and personal. No complaints from my ears, then. The huge collection of instruments, singers, and hall venue resonance is wide frequency, detailed - not muddy, restricted, thin, or boxy.

If you want an example of flawed sonics, go back to some other disc. I don't think this one is really in that running.

Soloists? Soprano Barbara Bonney is singing live, remember? She manages to combine the best of the two types of soprano that usually get assigned this part. She can chime with bell clarity, even in her highest reaches; and she shows plenty of heft, as when this soprano work is taken on by a more dramatic type of coloratura. Frank Lopardo's roasted swan really cannot be faulted. It's a character part, after all, meant to paint a musical scene of garish gusto, from the point of view of the poor swan being eaten, somehow roasted but reporting the scene to us, live. In fact, to my ears, Lopardo actually conveys touches of musical value, along with his Halloween Haunted House story-telling.

The brunt of the vocal solo assignments in this cantata is clearly borne by the bass-baritone. On this disc, Anthony Michaels-Moore is simply way better than good, vocally. Omnia sol temperat is suave and polished, completely fluent. Estuans enterius is commanding, but the singer never has to resort to the barking and booming that some vocalists use to cope with the rhythmic outlines of the vocal line. His Ego sum abbas references both the implied, free touches of plainsong and chant in one of the abbot's religious services, while making good music no matter where the tipsy abbot's brag rings out in the fluid tessitura. I hear no sense of vocal strain, even when the abbot's challenge rises high and triumphant with victory at the gaming tables. Circa mea pectora moves right along, with Michaels-Moore serving up yet more of that burnished tone, no weariness in sight. He handles the a capella embroidery of Si puer cum puellula with utter accuracy, points the skipping rhythms, and keeps that golden vocal tone going throughout.

So, to recap. I cannot hear the flaws or defects that others hear in this disc or its alleged sonics. Instead, I hear plenty of amazing musical stuff, enough to make it a lasting treasure of an Orff cantata reading. The soloists are a definite plus - like the Vienna band. More than enough to handle the music, and coming across strong with oodles of tonal heft in every department at every sound level in all frequencies. That's why to me, this one is a fav shelf keeper, all stars.

The real highlights of this recording (as stated by another reviewer) are the singing of Bonney and Michaels Moore. Bonney sings beautifully on "In Trutina" and Michaels Moore has a wonderful tone. Lopardo is straining in places and you can really hear it. The Vienna Philharmonic does a fine job, as does Previn, but in places I found myself wanting to hear the chorus a little better, as well as the brass and percussion. If you can get past the below average sound quality, it certainly isn't a bad choice. Unfortunately for this version the competition is quite good. I prefer Previn's earlier EMI recording to this one, but if you want a great performance coupled with excellent sound my recommendation would be the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Herbert Blomstedt on Decca. It is head and shoulders above this one.

The sound in this recording is, as stated above, big and full, and the orchestra plays excellently. The chorus sounds good, but unfortunately is too quiet in relation to the orchestra. Previn does a wonderful job conducting, both in this and in the Emi recording (Emi-56444), though a few tempos are too slow. The baritone, Anthony Michaels-Moore, sings beautifully and fully, and is one of the best I have heard in this piece. I would prefer John Aler, in Philips' Ozawa recording (Philips-22363), to Frank Lopardo as tenor, but Barbara Bonney is perfect as the soprano, and especially shines in Dulcissime. Overall, the recording is one of the best I have heard.