Orff - ASO, Runnicles - Carmina Burana (2001) {Hybrid-SACD // EAC Rip} [RE-UP]

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Orff - ASO, Runnicles - Carmina Burana (2001) {Hybrid-SACD // EAC Rip} [RE-UP]

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Carl Orff - Carmina Burana
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chorus / Donal Runnicles
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 220 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Telarc # SACD-60575 | Country/Year: US 2001
Genre: Classical | Style: Early 20th Century / Medieaval

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Orff - ASO, Runnicles - Carmina Burana (2001) {Hybrid-SACD // EAC Rip} [RE-UP]

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Orff - ASO, Runnicles - Carmina Burana (2001) {Hybrid-SACD // EAC Rip} [RE-UP]

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Last Saturday my wife and I schlepped off to Boston for our second concert of the season. The first half of the concert was devoted to Sequentia's take on the source material for Orff's Carmina Burana. It was enlightening if not exciting.

The Orff on the other hand was a real eye-opener for me. I had never before heard the thing live. Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducted the BSO and our soloists were Norah Amsellem, soprano; William Ferguson, tenor and Christian Gerhaher, baritone. They were magnificent. The thing that really caught my attention however was the orchestra. There were TWO concert grand pianos! Also a powerful percussion battery - although unlike Gustav Mahler, Orff was content with one set of Tympani.

The Tanglewood Festival Chorus is a large body of singers. All alone, they can be quite loud. With an orchestra like this one however, certain passages were ear-splitting even way back in the center section of the second balcony! Loud it was, and unusual for the Boston Symphony, there were some shrill moments. Orff planned them that way. But from the outset I must say that the magnificence of the sound was in the height and breadth of what we might call the sound picture. There was a sense of power and depth that even for Symphony Hall is unusual. This was the genius of Carl Orff at work.

I had not heard this Atlanta Symphony recording for a couple years now. Prompted by the concert experience I listened to it yesterday. I allowed myself the guilty pleasure of playing this thing LOUD! I experienced the same shrillness as in the live concert and in exactly the same passages. There is something about a piccolo doubling with a struck piece of steel!

In every department, by my standards of measure, which allow much leeway to interpretive aspects of any performance, but are like an on-off switch for sound quality, this recording is magnificent! This is one of the most realistic sounding recordings I think I ever heard. The sound stage produced in my listening room rivaled that of the live event in Symphony Hall. That, folks, is really saying something! The soloists were truly satisfying (characterful). They and the chorus, and children's chorus met every demand with aplomb. I guess for me the soprano should be singled out for special mention. She soars effortlessly (or so it seems) to the highest notes and with extraordinarily sweet tone delivers the climax of the work beautifully.

The breadth, depth, and height of the sound stage presented by the multi-channel "surround" mix delivers an enormous portion of the experience of a live performance of a splendid orchestra, with splendid soloists in a splendid hall. You really are "surrounded" by the ambient signature of the Atlanta concert hall. Orff's percussive writing, as well as the innovative writing for winds and the large chorus is wonderfully captured with huge impact. I can ask for nothing more! sa-cd.net

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Orff - ASO, Runnicles - Carmina Burana (2001) {Hybrid-SACD // EAC Rip} [RE-UP]

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