Orff;Carmina Burana [SACD]

A highly-charged performance with good to excellent soloists. There _is_, as another reviewer has noted, some audible hiss (which might be expected, given the age of the original analog master tape), though I did not find it as distracting, not even at high volume levels on a high-resolution audio system.

Having heard the Carmina live on several occasions, I find that this recording captures better than most that I've heard the somewhat astringent sonorities and inner voicing of Orff's scoring as well as the complex interplay between the various choirs. I detect no vocal "muddle," but rather well-delineated solos and ensemble work, even at the high-energy levels encountered, for example, in "Helena et Blanziflor" and "Tempus est secundum." Tuttis do not break up, and I detect none of the vocal "wandering" across the soundstage at high levels that I've heard on other recordings.

There's a slightly "bright" ambience to this recording, not inappropriate given the scoring. Rated at four stars only because of the noticeable--but not, in my view, distracting--hiss.

If you are buying this disc because it is recorded in SACD format, don't bother. Based upon the other SACDs I have I expected a top notch recording. It is not. I'm not sure if its a function of the recording process itself or something in the way it was transfered to SACD, but there is a very high level of hiss that is dramatic and distracting at high volume levels. Also, the vocals are somewhat muddled. I would say that a standard CD with a better recording would sound better.

There is a reviewer that is on here that goes around putting down people that have complained about the hiss on some recordings of SACD music. Some of wht he says is true, SACD has the ability to reproduce EVERY nuance of the original, including its warts. BUT there is a limit to what I can take. Maybe for its time this was a stupendous recording, but I have heard many regular CDs of Carmina that sound a lot better. I did A/B comparisons with some in my collection and this SACD was one of the worst. Bad muddled voices. Bad stereo soundstage. Not well mixed. The only redeming factor is there is good punch to the music. Good bass in the kettledrums for example. But the hiss, bad mixing, vocals that sound like they are a mile away, and muddled sound really do not show off what SACD can do. Why can't record labels do a modern recording with todays technology and make it sound they way it is supposed to sound... like you are THERE in the concert hall. I am sorry but hiss in a recording does not make me feel like I am in a concert hall. It makes me VERY conscious that I am listening to a RECORDING. This is unacceptable when I have other SACD discs that really do make me feel like I am in a concert hall. It is nice that these really old recordings can be archived almost perfectly now with SACD. But I cannot give this recording a good review because of the too numerous warts in the original recording made so long ago. Seems like labels would rather release this old stuff and make more money off of it by fooling people that it is SO good because it is SACD (when honestly with the amount of hiss etc. regular CD would have been enough)instead of rerecording it properly along with all the expense that entails. Come on record companies, we want QUALITY SACD recordings too along with the archival stuff.