Orff: Carmina Burana / Fischer-Dieskau, Jochum

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Yes, here it is folks--that irritatingly catchy chorus you first heard in the film Excalibur, or as the background music to the HBO Boxing Specials, and in zillions of other places. What it's not is the music from The Omen, which it clearly inspired. All pieces of music that feature choruses chanting in Latin are not the same (in fact, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms is much closer to The Omen than this). Orff actually wrote a lot more music, but here's a case where his reputation as a "one work" composer really is justified, for nothing else comes close in musical or popular appeal. This performance was authorized by the composer himself, and that's recommendation enough. --David Hurwitz

Tracks:

Fortune, Empress Of The World: O Fortune
Fortune, Empress Of The World: I Bemoan The Wounds Of Fortune
I Spring: The Merry Face Of Spring
I Spring: The Sun Warms Everything
I Spring: Behold, The Pleasant Spring
On The Green: Dance
On The Green: The Noble Woods Are Burgeoning
On The Green: Shopkeeper, Give Me Colour
On The Green: Those Who Go Round And Round
On The Green: If All The World Were Mine
II In The Tavern: Burning Inside
II In The Tavern: Once I Lived On Lakes
II In The Tavern: I Am The Abbot
II In The Tavern: When We Are In The Tavern
III The Court Of Love: Cupid Flies Everywhere
III The Court Of Love: Day, Night And Everything
III The Court Of Love: A Girl Stood
III The Court Of Love: In My Heart
III The Court Of Love: If A Boy With A Girl
III The Court Of Love: Come, Come, O Come
III The Court Of Love: In The Balance
III The Court Of Love: This Is The Joyful Time
III The Court Of Love: Sweetest One
Blanchefleur And Helen: Hail, Most Beautiful One
Fortune, Empress Of The World: O Fortune

Amazon.com

Yes, here it is folks--that irritatingly catchy chorus you first heard in the film Excalibur, or as the background music to the HBO Boxing Specials, and in zillions of other places. What it's not is the music from The Omen, which it clearly inspired. All pieces of music that feature choruses chanting in Latin are not the same (in fact, Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms is much closer to The Omen than this). Orff actually wrote a lot more music, but here's a case where his reputation as a "one work" composer really is justified, for nothing else comes close in musical or popular appeal. This performance was authorized by the composer himself, and that's recommendation enough. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Splendid !.......2007-06-27

It's definitively the best adaptation of Carl Orff's masterpiece with astonishing vocal parts.Surely a "must have" CD for everyone who loves classical music at his best.

It is the best... but it isn't.......2007-06-08

A confusing review title, I'll grant that. And if it is the best, the why isn't it, and why only 3 stars?
For me, Eugen Jochum's rendition of Carmina Burana is easily the best one. Approved by Orff himself that was invited to assist the premiere. Unlike several other performances, this Carmina Burana was raw, even violent at times. All the energy that Orff had put into it, all the joy and jokes of the text where lived by the performers. There was no worry on softening the sound in order to look more "polite" or classical. It was raw, it was energic, it was Orff's intention live on stage. That's why it is said Orff was so pleased with it.
However, some people criticized it. Said it was too violent, too unprofessional, too raw after all. That it was not a proper classical music interpretation. It lacked detail, politeness and "education". After all, it was just not "proper" to play classical music "like that". It is a stigma this performance has suffered for years, regardlessly of being the composer's approved one.
When I got this new DG release something sounded different. The sound was perhaps cleaner, but surely something was wrong. And it was easy to find out what. The remastering altered the original, by softening it. It was now slightly slower, more polite, there is not so much violence in the voices sometimes, nor in some of the instruments. DG tried to please everybody with this re-release, including the critics of the original 1988 release, the one faithful to the original performance.
So, that explains the title, it is the best performance, but not the best edition, as it has been remastered, and, in my humble opinion, adulterated.
For me, the best one overall: best performance and best edition is still the 1988 release of this same recording also by DG and available here at amazon called Orff: Carmina Burana.

This is what it was supposed to sound like.......2006-10-16

Maybe just like most other people, I heard bits of the first piece of "Carmina Burana" - I think it was as part of a chocolate commercial (back in Germany). When I saw that that was actually the very first piece, I wondered what could possibly come after that, and I did a bit of research into what the music was all about. The result of that search made it all the more interesting: It's medival poems and songs, partly in Latin, partly in old German, set to the music of Carl Orff.

I went through a bunch of other recordings of "Carmina Burana" until I finally found this one. This one is the best. I mean you can complain about aspects of it, but with the composer working with the conductor it's a bit hard to say anything meaninful. If you don't like the way this sounds then maybe you just don't like the full piece. For example, I've seen people praise other recordings because they sounded "less teutonic". That's quite a ridiculous comment - after all, that's what it's supposed to sound like. And it's Latin (or old German) and that's just what Latin sounds like.

So I can only recommend this recording, it's quite impressive, and it's quite heavy in the percussion - make sure to listen to it loud at least once.

Music to my ears..........2006-06-25

Great CD, great price, fast delivery -- what more is there?

Not the Best Version by a Longshot.......2006-05-13

I have six different recordings of this masterpiece, and this particular recording is probably my least favourite of them all. It's jarring to hear sprightly passages played too slowly, making them seem to plod along -- and it's even worse to hear sensuous and languid portions like "Cour D'Amours" and "Uf Dem Anger" played too quickly, as if they were all in a hurry to get home. It ruins the effect completely.

And Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau? I actually winced, hearing him in his solo passages, where he's supposed to sound impassioned and suffering, to hear him warbling away like he thought he was singing lieder. Sorry, no. If you want to hear how it all SHOULD sound, buy the CD with Charles Dutoit conducting the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, which is the finest version I've ever heard -- the best use of tempo, the best diction, and the best soloists by far.

And PLEASE, let's get something straight: "Carmina" does NOT rhyme with "Christina", it rhymes with "stamina". "Carmen" is a second-declension neuter noun in Latin, as is "stamen", and in the nominative plural, the stress falls on the first syllable. It's CAR-min-a, not car-MEE-na. It makes my hair stand on end to hear someone pronounce it like they think the "-ina" is an Italian diminutive ending, like in "manina". It is NOT.

[ADDED LATER: How pathetic that so many people have thought my review was "not helpful". Did they expect lies and smiley faces? They probably went right ahead and wasted their money anyway. I tried to warn them. Chances are, though, they have no idea what the lyrics mean, so it won't matter to them that Dietrich F.-D. sings them like he doesn't know what they mean either.

I even hope they will also ignore my correction of the frequent mispronunciation of the title, because it can be quite hilarious to hear pseudo-sophisticates mangling pronunciations and thus announcing to the world that they really don't have a clue.]

Average customer rating:

Orff: Carmina Burana

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

4-for-3 Opera & Vocal | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000E414
Release Date: 1988-08-08

Tracks:

O Fortuna
Fortune Plango Vulnera
Veris Leta Facies
Omnia Sol Temperat
Ecce Gratum
Tanz
Floret Silva
Chramer, Gip Die Varwe Mir
Reie
Were Diu Werlt Alle Min
Estuans Interius
Olim Lacus Colueram
Ego Sum Abbas
In Taberna Quando Sumus
Amor Volat Unidque
Dies Nox Et Emnia
Stetit Puella
Circa Mea Pectora
Si Puer Cum Puellula
Veni Veni Venias
In Trutina
Tempus Est Iocundum
Dulcissime
Ave Formosissima
O Fortuna

An die Musik [2 CD & DVD Limited Edition]

Average customer rating:

An excellent overview of Dietrich Fischer Dieskau with Deutsche Grammophon

An die Musik [2 CD & DVD Limited Edition]

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

German | Languages | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Cantatas | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
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The Art of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Schubert - Winterreise / Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Alfred Brendel, Sender Freies Berlin
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Schwarzkopf, Seefried & Fischer-Dieskau Sing Mahler, Richard Strauss & Schubert (EMI Classic Archive 21)

ASIN: B0008064XY
Release Date: 2005-07-12

Customer Reviews:

An excellent overview of Dietrich Fischer Dieskau with Deutsche Grammophon.......2005-11-08

"An die Musik", aptly named after the famous Schubert lied of the same title, is an excellent overview of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau's recorded output for Deutsche Grammophon over the past 56 years. On the CDs, there are six Schubert lieder from Fischer-Dieskau's 21 disc set with pianist Gerald Moore, (dating from ca. 1970) and other lieder by Wolf, Richard Strauss, Brahms, and Schoeck. Also included are two chansons of Claude Debussy, and arias from Mozart's "Die Zauberflote" and "Don Giovanni", both conducted by Ferenc Fricsay; small part of Fricsay's Orff "Carmina Burana" (rec. 1949), Schubert's "Dichterliebe" cycle with pianist Jorg Demus; and the 4 Ruckert lieder with Karl Bohm/Berlin Philharmonic. Fischer-Dieskau is amazing, with such a wide repertory, and such enthusiasm for singing such varied and different styles of music.

The bonus DVD, lasting about 28 minutes, is very interesting to watch and listen to. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and pianist Sviatoslav Richter peform 8 famous Schubert lieder in the great room of a hotel in a remote Bavarian village, in utterly charming and rather informal surroundings. The camera work is minimal, the sound, very fine but a little low level mono: filmed in 1978. Fischer-Dieskau looks alot younger here than more recent photos of him, but a little older and more classy than the photos I'm used to seeing of him, which date from the late 1960s. Fischer-Dieskau and Richter work as one, and their partnership and great working relationship is evident from measure 1. There is no doubt watching this that they had alot of fun performing for the cameras.

I am grateful DG released this set: 2 very full discs at over 70 minutes of music each, + the DVD of a telecast not seen since 1978. The sound is very good, even in the mono tracks, and if you like lieder and opera excerpts, you will be delighted. I mention this as one who's experienced Fischer-Dieskau's recordings for 25 years, and been usually delighted by them.

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