This recording was done way back in 1967 and has been a bench mark performance ever since. It was done before Carmina Burana became "popular" and that probably explains why it is so good.

The performers involved recorded it because they wanted to and not because they had to. When a piece of music becomes "popular", it seems that every classical music label just has to release it's own recording in an already saturated market, just because it thinks it can make a quick dollar on a "hit". But unfortunately, because of this, the performance usually falls short of the mark because the heart isn't involved.

There is definitely heart and spirit behind this recording. It seems that everyone involved were in the spirit of the work and infused it with dynamism, warmth, power and joy, the likes of which have rarely been heard since. I believe Carl Orff himself was present during the recording sessions and gave it his stamp of approval. The quality of the original recording was very good, and is now even better in this re-mastered version.

Jean-Yves Duperron