Search - Sherrill Milnes, Carl Orff, Katherine Edmonds Puszati :: Orff: Carmina Burana

Get This One - Not The Ozawa Berlin!!!!

Bertram christmas | Boston ,MA. | 04/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1969 Ozawa Boston Sym. "Carmina" ( recorded four years prior to his appointment as BSO music director ) is FAR preferable to his much later - late 80's version with The Berlin Philharmonic on Philips. Speeds are just right here, the Berlin one is much too fast and less joyous. Indeed, one should be far more moved here. The 1969 analog sound is excellent ( the sound seems to get just a wee bit better with each subsequent re-issue ). I will even go so far as to say that this IS THE "Carmina" to get. A great performance indeed. The fact that this recording has NEVER been out of print since its' very first Lp incarnation should attest to that."

My favorite recording.

Matthew R. Williams | 11/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I havn't heard ALL of the Carmina Burana's but I went through at least three before I settled on this one as my favorite. The tempo is right, the sound quality is fantasitc, and the performance is top notch. Every time I listen to this CD it sends me on an emotional roller coaster ride. I highly recommend it."

Never Surpassed Version

Sheri Wild | Chicago, IL | 08/19/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"There's a reason this 1969 recording has never gone out of print--it's the definitive version for most people across the spectrum of taste. It is a dynamic, forceful and dramatic reading that gives space to the individual sections without losing the architecture of the broader whole. Rhythmically peppy, it is pretty well together without dragging the tempo, a considerable achievement with so many different choral forces involved. The singing by the boys' chorus is especially good and well captured for once. Foremost among the soloists is the great opera baritone Sherrill Milnes, who sings authoritatively and covers the music's demands from full-voiced gusto to mixed-voice and falsetto delicacy--all with fine clarity and diction. The section where he and the boys' chorus echo one another and then sing together is a delight. Poor Stanley Kolk has the tenor-killer aria (some recordings substitute a different voice); he lands all the notes and sings with the right attitude for the text. The part is so gruellingly written I've yet to hear a tenor really pull this passage off with perfect security without having to belt it out like the town cryer, and this version is no different. Evelyn Mandac sings the very high soprano part about as well as it can be sung. The whole effort has the feel of a live performance, it's done with so much verve and gusto--it nearly threatens to spin out of control once or twice, but never does. Very deserving of RCA's Red Seal and then Gold Seal designations of quality!"