Not being an expert, I consider this to be the best and most interesting video dramatization of Orff's Carmina Burana.
I am an incorrigible music lover, and classical music has accompanied my life for as long as I have known myself. However, I didn't fully explore this piece, by Carl Orff, until I was eighteen years old. I've heard it countless times. I virtually memorized the lyrics (especially the Latin parts). Later, I saw it live. Much more recently, I became more in touch with the original texts and poetry of the Codex Buranus and with sung versions that are closer to the medieval sound, which was in line with my activity as a medievalist. And I have no doubt that I have not read or heard it all.
When creating this symphonic work, at the beginning of the 20th century, Carl Orff selected some poems and gave them music. Although we often hear the various sections of his work separately (especially "O Fortuna", which turned out to be the most famous section), I feel that this is a work that needs to be heard in its entirety to become understandable in its message. There is a coherent logic in the choice of poems, and in the order in which Orff places the various sections, transforming this work into an ode to human nature, the cycle of life and the hopes and anxiousnesses of Man. It is no coincidence that it begins and ends with "O Fortuna", the song that best describes the ups and downs of luck and chance in our lives.
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle took an excellent initiative when directing this recording, where nothing is done in a thoughtless way either. Orff himself, when visiting the film set, was impressed and satisfied with the entire production, which indicates that we can see, in this footage, something that will closely resemble what the composer imagined in his mind. I especially liked the inclusion of the various allegorical figures (the Angel, the Devil, Justice, Faith, Temperance, Time etc.) because I feel they fit well into the big picture, along with the various allusions to medieval art, to cathedrals, to medieval environments and scenarios. The various popular and noble costumes also deserve praise. An excellent staging work.
The recording has excellent actors, starting with the various soloists. John Van Kesteren is a tenor that Orff respected a lot, and it's great to hear him here. Lucia Popp also deserves a round of applause. At this stage of her career, she was becoming one of the most beautiful and solid coloratura sopranos of her time, and she offers us here an excellent vocal work and a great resourcefulness on stage. I don't know Hermann Prey that well, he stopped singing long before I remembered to pay attention to him, but I like what I hear on the various existing recordings, and this one is no exception. Also, he really knew how to fill the screen and steal our attention. Invisible to the eye, but omnipresent, the Munich Radio Orchestra does an excellent job.
