To start off the new year, I thought I'd take D's advice, and branch out from the pop/rock genres and provide a wider variety of music. In this case I thought I'd try to provide a work that appeals to D's long standing involvement in choral music and performance.
A few caveats...
First, I know jack-diddly-squat about classical music, so have little information to provide.
Second, I own very few classical, jazz, blues or other genre albums, so my selection is limited. I'd love to take suggestions about anything I could purchase and share with everyone. (No Kenny G! or other "light jazz!" You are on your own for that stuff.)
Third, without a more advanced MP3 program, which would allow the mixing of mp3 tracks, I've found it difficult to translate classical works to easily shared computer files. CDs write the individual tracks based on the individual movements of a piece, so, for example, to send the entire Concerto No. 2 in F Major by J.S. Back, it would require four separate files, each more than four minutes long. At best, to conserve space, I'll be sending single movements.
Anyway... back to today's piece. Again, the only choral work I know by ear... mostly because it's been used for dramatic soundtracks in dozen's of movies. Carmina Burana, by Carl Orff, is still a very stirring piece. I've only included the introduction, which should be instantly recognized by most.
Composed in 1936, I believe performed first in 1937, this cantata stands as one of THE essential 20th century choral works.
This is the 1989 recording for Naxos records, by the Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. The Beauty of Naxos is that they recorded hundreds of classical works during the 80's and '90s, using Eastern European orchestras and performers... STARVING Eastern European orchestras and performers... who would work for food money and be happy about it. You get these incredible performances for like $6.98... because the recording royalties were so minimal.
Gotta love exploitive capitalism.
Anyway, enjoy "O Fortuna" the first movement of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana.
Did a little more research on this recently. I guess that Carl Orff composed the music in 1930 or so, but the original chant is some lost ancient Latin verses that are not ascribed to anyone in particular. Still a beautiful melding of ancient and modern composition.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of my favorite classical pieces. Will have to pull it up on my iPod later!
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