Search - Carl Orff, Michel Plasson, Natalie Dessay :: Orff - Carmina Burana / Dessay, Lesne, Hampson; Plasson

A Definitive Recording

George Williamson | Stanton, CA United States | 10/21/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A superb recording of the warhorse falling inbetween the authentic and meditative performance of Eugen Jochum, and the bravura of Andre Previn. It is the most sensual of all the recordings I've heard and can find a place in a collection even if one own's another version. crystal clear sonics without a trace of coloration."

Not to my taste

Philip Trubey | Rancho Santa Fe, CA United States | 02/11/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The vocals sounded drowned out in several places by the instrumentals, and they often sounded "farther away" and muddied. This wasn't a tight performance, with instrumental oddities appearing here and there. Some vocal choruses appeared shrill. I much prefer either the older Robert Shaw, Atlanta Symphony recording or the James Levine, Chicago Symphony."

Passion and energy throughout................

Sam | Seahurst, Washington | 09/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Carmina Burana" is very well served on CD, but Michel Plasson's EMI performance, recorded in Toulouse, is rather special. Not only is the choral singing extraordinarily vivid, it is as seductively warm in pianissimos as it is incisively vibrant in fortissimos. The three soloists are the finest on record. Thomas Hampson's tender first entry, "Omnia sol temperat" ("The Sun Rules Over All"), is matched by his great vigor in the Tavern Scene, and Gerard Lesne's `alto timbre' is uniquely suited to the "Song of the Roast Swan." The trebles open `Amor Volat Undique' with knowing Gallic delicacy, and Lesne and Hampson combine to make the sequence `Si puer cum puella' ("If a boy with a girl") quite delectable, topped by Natalie Dessay's tenderly ravishing `Stetit puella.' The choral "Tempus est iocundum" brings the fullest expression of sexual rapture, into which the trebles from the Midi-Pyrenees enter with enthusiasm, if without quite the knowing exuberance which English boy-trebles bring to it. But Plasson's closing "Ave formosissima"---O Fortuna has splendid grandeur, and this outstanding version must go straight to the top of the list."