This disc is a freak show. When I was in high school, our all-state chorus (Connecticut) did Carmina Burana in its reduced version for two pianos and percussion. It was recorded. In fact, it was my introduction to the piece, but even then we knew that it was not a recording suitable for commercial release: it was a charming souvenir, nothing more. This also is a souvenir, and not a charming one. To have all of the parts sung by a boy’s chorus makes nonsense of Orff’s carefully arranged musical and poetic scheme, and sounds just plain creepy. To hear a clutch of boy sopranos daintily singing the ladies’ chorus “Chramer, gip die varwe mir” (loosely translated as “Give me my makeup”) is a queasy experience. Perhaps it would suffice as the new theme song to RuPaul’s Drag Race, but as a representation of Carl Orff’s intentions it’s simply grotesque.
As for the real parts for children’s chorus, we have the redundant and unnecessary participation of the evocatively named Children’s Choirs of the Music School of Telfs Region and Surroundings. The soloists are good, save that Orff wrote the tenor solo in Part 2 for, well, a tenor, and not a male alto, the point being to sing “Olim lacus colueram” in a strained falsetto. The two pianists and percussion ensemble play well, and the whole crowd is conducted with all the mechanical pedantry of a provincial choir conductor by Johannes Stecher, at whose feet the responsibility must be laid for this ridiculous farce. But I suppose parents of the choir-members will be thrilled.
