Album: Orff: Carmina Burana

I've heard many...many recordings of Carmina Burana. As a whole, this is the one. There are certainly a few flaws in the performance...places where some of the chorus stumbled on the Latin...but all and all, as a standard, this is the most consistently wonderful version I've heard. Shaw's direction is consummate, and the soloists are full of character: the 'Olum Iacus Colueram' is laugh-out-loud funny, and the baritone solo in 'Omnia sol temperat' is bold and langorous. My only complant, and it's a small one, is the album is divided into major sections instead of movements, so it is difficult to find individual movements if you want to just listen to a specific one. Oh well! In short -- I love it. You should own it. Ok, go buy it now.

I first purchased this album on vinyl in the '80s and have enjoyed it for over thirty years. I have always been taken away by the sound of the Bass Drum in the first movement. It's the bass drum, (not the tympani), Curt. I first played a band transcription by John Krance in 1970. A deftly hewn arrangement which brought a great love for the breadth of emotion in Orff's masterpiece. Robert Shaw is first a Choral Genius as well as a great conductor. The quality of sound as well as the great performance make this album a MUST HAVE in anyone's library.

I love this recording. The timpani are very present, like I like it, and the brass are amazing, like I like it. Robert Shaw knows how to make the orchestra and chorus sound amazing. The soloists are awesome, too! I still prefer Thomas Allen to Hakan Hagregard. The bass drum, as in all Telarc recordings, is spot on. Wonderful recording, iTunes. Thank you.

My father, a tenor with the ASOC at the time, sings on this recording. I remember going to the performance as an 11 year-old and being overwhelmed by the music. I didn't understand it at the time, but it was so moving and "cool". I've also been to the monastery in Benediktbeuren in Bavaria where most of the lyrics were composed by Medieval monks. Needless to say, I love this recording, engineered by the Telarc master sound engineer Jack Renner. I think it's a keeper.

It is no secret that Robert Shaw is one of the most renowned conductors of our time. That being said, he reached what I believe may be the pinnacle of his career with this recording. He commands the symphony and chorus with an energy and passion that you can feel!! The diction, the consonants - all in perfect unison. Overlay the masterful talents of the musicians over Orff's enormously controversial Carmina Burana and you have what I can only say is near perfection!! You don't have to like classical music. You don't have to "understand" it. Give this recording a try --- Shaw brings this piece to life in a way that brings breath and addrenaline into your body and spirit. While Mozart, et all, may do that for the classical purists... Shaw/Orff have accomplished the same for those classical novices who are just getting started. To Mr. Shaw - thank you for this work. The pleasure will be ours for generations to come.

I've own lotsa Carmina Burana cds and I believe this is the best one. The soloists are amazing and the you can clearly hear the deep booming base of the timpani and the base drum that will surely blow my mind away!

Definitive version. Plus, you can get it on Amazon for $3.96 and at 256 kbs. =)

This is the Album whichI judge all others. I think that this body of work is the best that there if to offer. There have been many to try but this is the only one that can stand up in my book. It is just perfection to me!!! I hope that all would agree.

Like the previous reviewer, I believe this recording of the Carmona Burana is the standard by which all recordings of this work should be measured. Shaw is at the peak of his game, and the symphony, chorus, and soloists all blow the doors off the hall. Credit, too, to the Atlanta Boy Choir, under the sub-direction of Fletcher Wolfe, who add the right touch of childish innocence to this work. Buy this recording and hear this work as it was meant to be heard.