• Andre Previn/London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, soloists: Orff: Carmina Burana (EMI)
  
  alternative performances:


• Eugen Jochum/Orchestra and Chorus of the German Opera, Berlin, and soloists (Deutsche Grammophon)


• Marin Alsop/Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, soloists (Naxos)

For the past five years I have been researching a couple of branches of my ethnically complicated family tree. After hours spent swapping documents, pictures, and stories with relatives, to say nothing of sacrificing what's left of my eyesight to microfilm readers, I had a stack of records leading me to the conclusion that my family conducts many of its major events -- births, weddings, burials -- in the Garden State. If I ever design a personal coat of arms, Sooner or later, you're going to New Jersey is going to be my motto of choice.

If New Jersey appears more or less unavoidable for my family, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana fills the same function for anybody with a bit of casual exposure to classical music. Even if your tastes incline more to action movies and Sean Hannity broadcasts than Live from Lincoln Center, chances are excellent that you have heard portions of CB, particularly its popular opening and closing chorus, "O Fortuna."

Familiarity in this case breeds cliche and tremendous misunderstanding. Let's face it: if you're watching a movie trailer and the pulsing, pounding, relentless "O Fortuna" blasts through the theater, I doubt that you're silently translating the Latin text over your popcorn. You simply register that blend of excitement and fear engendered by the music. Who knew that a secular cantata based on medieval texts had such staying power in popular culture?

But you don't have to sign up for a course in Middle High German to appreciate Carmina Burana in its entirety. The liner notes for your CD likely contain the original Latin, German, and French text with translations, perhaps even multilingual translations. Once you know something about the work, however, you can drop the text perusal and allow yourself to respond to the passion, energy, and humor of the music and especially its performers.

First of all, let's clear up the matter of mistaken identity. Whatever you might have heard, Carmina Burana, particularly "O Fortuna," is not to be confused with the soundtrack for The Omen, or even John Barry's choral music for the opening titles of The Lion in Winter. "O Fortuna" is in fact a reflection on the random and treacherous nature of fate. If the members of the chorus sound desperate as the music builds to a climax, they have good reason!

But don't stop there.

I'll bet that any cantatas in your CD collection were written to summon your thoughts to God, to sacrifice, to the heavenly rewards awaiting a faithful servant.

Carmina Burana is not that kind of cantata, people. Here you'll find choruses and solos on the pleasures of dancing and drinking, the seductive power of make-up ("Chramer, gip die varwe mir"), and even a horny baritone's barroom lament, "Estuans Interius" ("Burning Inside"), that proves people haven't changed a bit since the 13th century. And the only sacrifice represented here is a young woman's yielding to her lover ("In Trutina," "Dulcissime"). This is definitely not for the abstinence-only crowd.

Carmina Burana was formed from 13th texts and 20th century music, and if the work has a straightforward simplicity, the arrangements require an orchestra rather than a medieval music ensemble. Pay particular attention to that percussion section.

Performing Carmina Burana requires soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists, plus an adult chorus and a children's choir. Those soprano solos contain some brief but dazzling passages -- lovely to hear, and emotionally charged with the right performer. The baritone represents, in turn, that lonely guy in the tavern and an unapologetic abbot given to drinking and gambling. Our tenor soloist, most unusually, is enlisted to sing the lament of a hapless swan being roasted for a feast!

If you're ready to surrender to the terrors and delights of Carmina Burana, the next question is which recording to choose. That can be daunting, as CB could likely compete with Handel's Messiah and Faure's Requiem for the title of Most-Recorded Classical Choral Work. Indeed, sometimes it appears there's an additional CD every week: remastered reissues, budget recordings, newly recorded performances at full price.

And it often seems as though every baritone of note has performed the solos in Carmina Burana: Thomas Allen, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hakan Hagegard, Simon Keenlyside, Christian Gerhaher, and Harve Presnell. Yes, that is the same Harve Presnell you know from The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Paint Your Wagon, and Fargo.

And the sopranos who have sung those sweetly erotic solos include Lucia Popp, Kathleen Battle, June Anderson, Gundula Janowitz, Sheila Armstrong, and Arleen Auger.

So I've tossed a few possibilities your way: the stalwart DG recording with Eugen Jochum conducting, Andrew Previn's now remastered version on EMI, and of course Marin Alsop's Naxos disc, recorded with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

If you are looking for a classic performance, one with the imprimatur of Carl Orff himself, look no further than Eugen Jochum's Deutsche Grammophon recording. The soprano soloist, Gundula Janowitz, is particularly affecting, bringing youthful vibrancy and emotional resonance to what is a moment of ecstatic surrender.

Previn's recording has a real treat due to the choice of baritone soloist: Thomas Allen. If Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau brings energy and passion to the Jochum recording, Thomas Allen's virile performance on the Previn disc is the more vocally satisfying, richer and fuller in tone.

Sheila Armstrong, the soprano soloist on the EMI recording, has a silvery, supple voice that sends shivers down your spine, though she comes off as just a bit mannered next to Janowitz.

Alsop's Naxos recording is very listenable and her soloists are pleasing. It's a bit hard for this recording to push its way to the head of the queue, given all the CB discs out there, but it's worth reviewing.

A note of caution: If you are listening to Carmina Burana with earphones or over your home sound system in the presence of easily startled family members or pets, watch the volume levels. The opening and closing choruses in particular drop to a hum at certain moments and then build to a window-rattling climax. Cold showers are optional.