Carl Orff - Trionfi (Herbert Kegel)

Information

Composer: Carl Orff

• Carmina Burana
• Catulli Carmina
• Trionfo di Afrodite

Celestina Casapietra, soprano

Horst Hiestermann, tenor

Karl-Heinz Stryczec, baritone

Rundfunkchor Leipzig / Horst Neumann, chorusmaster

Dresdner Kapellknaben / Konrad Wagner, chorusmaster

Ute Mai, soprano

Eberhard Büchner, tenor

Jutta Czapski, Günter Philipp, Wolfgang Wappler & Gerhard Erber, pianos

Rundfunkchor Leipzig / Horst Neumann, chorusmaster

Isabella Nawe, soprano

Ebergard Büchner, tenor

Renate Krahmer, soprano

Horst Hiestermann, tenor

Reiner Süß, bass

Rundfunkchor Leipzig / Horst Neumann, chorusmaster

Rundfunkchor Berlin / Wolf-Dieter Hauschild, chorusmaster

Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra

Herbert Kegel, conductor

Date: 1974; 1971; 1975

Label: Berlin Classics

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Review

This is unusual. While there are phalanxes of recordings of Carmina Burana you will have to search hard to find a set of the complete triptych. There are two sets. There is Smetacek's Supraphon (which I have not heard) and this Berlin Classics version. Both derive from analogue sources though I am pretty sure that the Supraphon is 1960s vintage. This one is from the 1970s.

I do not recall any reviews of the complete trilogy of recordings. Of course these recordings are analogue and ‘worse still’ from two unfashionable companies. The closest the majors have come to looking at the triptych as more than just Carmina Burana is Frans Welser-Möst's project. This laudably coupled Catulli and Trionfo on a single EMI disc. EMI went to Munich to makes these recordings with that lovely city's radio orchestra. Again I have not heard that version but I know that it is highly thought of. Ormandy recorded Carmina Burana and Catulli Carmina. Each is still available on Sony Essential Classics. Leading alternative versions of Carmina Burana happen to be from EMI. The oldest is Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos’s 1960s effort and then Previn’s 1970s recording with Sheila Armstrong and the LSO. The Previn was recorded after a famous televised broadcast in which Thomas Allen fainted and his part was taken at nil notice by a member of the audience. Both EMIs have had a very long life in the catalogue and with good reason.

The two EDEL discs come in a double-width jewel case. The three works are apportioned with Carmina Burnaa complete on disc 1 and Trionfo complete on disc 2. Catulli is split with the Praelusio at the end of disc 1 and the remainder following on disc 2. Tracking is extremely generous and detailed with 25 tracks for Burana (track 15 has two index points and track 9 has 4). Catulli is in five tracks with sixteen index entries. Trionfo has ten tracks and seven index points. Embedded indexing is rare these days and I wonder how many modern CD players can access the index points.

The LPs were originally issued in 1973, 1976 and 1978. This 1974 Carmina Burana replaces Kegel's more famous recording made in the mid-1960s using the same Leipzig orchestra but different soloists.

These three pieces are sonic spectaculars. Carmina Burana, in particular, has been the subject or victim of super-bass, hi-definition, direct-to-disc or quadrophonic ‘specials’ of various stamps. The salaciously bawdy lyrics have also helped to give the Cantiones profanae a certain notoriety. On top of that, in the UK in the 1970s, O Fortuna (tr. 25 CD1, here) was used in an 'Old Spice' men’s aftershave advertisement. That too helped sell discs and promote performances.

The style of these three works was surely shaped not only by the medieval sources but also by Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Les Noces.

Kegel made something of a specialism of Carmina Burana. There is an even older version included in the Kegel celebration box reviewed by me a month or so ago. This 1970s one has all the bustle, light-footedness, raucousness, coarseness and rapture you could want. The women's contributions swoon and dance with grace. The men are rowdy, leering and serenading. Kegel takes the quick sections very quickly and there is some split-second precision work with the orchestra especially in Primo vere. Stryczek is a wonderful baritone - listen to him in Estuans interius. In In taberna quando sumus the men's choir viciously wrap their lips almost scornfully around some of the most sharply etched word-setting in Western music. Casapietra attacks with clean rapture the Stetit puella and, though tested by the ionospheric demands of Dulcissime, passes with distinction, delicacy, steadiness and poetic sensitivity. Time after time spatial effects are explored to brilliant effect. The best illustration is Veni, veni venias (tr. 20).

Catulli Carmina has the same rowdy, strongly rhythmic, percussively volleying edginess as Burana. Perhaps parts of it suffer from ‘sequelitis’ with the style fully intact but the intrinsic ideas creaking. On the other hand at 10.2 of the Praelusio the gentle play of the harp with the voices is superbly inventive. Catulli is also distinctive for the occasional shouted and breathlessly lewd exclamation from the wonderfully dissolute and leering Eberhard Büchner. The choir do not display quite as much unruly finesse as they do in Burana but they are impressive and they act their parts as if their lives were at stake. The salacious rolling growl in the final Eis aiona has to be heard (tr. 4. Exodium). Catulli starts and ends with the Eis aiona chorus in much the same way as Burana starts and ends with O Fortuna. This pattern was abandoned for Trionfo.

Like Catulli Carmina, Trionfo uses words by Catullus. To this source Orff adds various Sapphic poems and a fragment by Euripides. The plot follows a wedding ceremony of antiquity. Snappy, percussive, motoric rhythms etched with impact and precision are the order of the day. In this work the orchestral fusillades recall Petrushka and in Apparizione di Afrodite (finale, tr 14) it is the thunderous ice-cracking Rite of Spring that comes to mind. In La sposa viene condotta (tr 11) Büchner relishes his over the top high volume shout-acting. It must be the only way to play this music if it is to succeed at all. By the time we get to the end of Trionfo the singing will have reminded you not only of Stravinsky but also of sixties’ vintage Ligeti and Penderecki.

No words or translations are provided by EDEL.

None of this music is hard listening. The set is well worth tracking down either because you know of Carmina Burana by reputation and want to have the complete triptych or because you can't get enough of Carmina Burana. Be warned; although there are filial similarities this is not a complete style-copy of the famous original.

— Rob Barnett

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Carl Orff (10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer. Educated at the Munich Academy of Music, he later worked as a conductor and developed his pedagogical approach. Orff gained international recognition with Carmina Burana (1937), a staged secular oratorio based on medieval poetry, followed by related works such as Catulli carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite. His compositions often drew on Greek theatre and medieval traditions. Additionally, Orff created a widely adopted educational method emphasizing rhythm, group performance and percussion. He also co-founded the Günther School in Munich.

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Herbert Kegel (29 July 1920 – 20 November 1990) was a German conductor. Trained in Dresden under Karl Böhm and Boris Blacher, he began his career in 1946 and rose to key positions with the Leipzig Radio Orchestra and Choir. He also led the Dresden Philharmonic and taught at major music institutions. Kegel was admired for his precise, expressive style and broad repertoire, spanning from Bach to modern composers. He championed contemporary works and helped popularize challenging pieces through performances and recordings. Despite his artistic achievements, his life ended tragically with his suicide in 1990.

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