Richard Hickox already has recorded Carmina Burana with the LSO forces (last available on Regis). That was a version of no special distinction, and neither is this one. The chorus is okay, the orchestra is okay, and the live sonics are a bit cavernous, with the choir seeming to recede into the distance as the volume increases. Baritone Christopher Maltman sings with tremulous tone and approximate pitch in his “In taberna” solos; soprano Laura Claycomb’s voice turns a bit shrill on high. Hickox beats time efficiently, without making any special effort to explore the coloristic details of Orff’s scoring (as do Jochum, Blomstedt, and Kegel), or to overwhelm with the music’s sheer rhythmic energy (Muti, Thomas, Ozawa/RCA). In short, this is an average effort from any perspective that you care to look at it. If you want Carmina Burana on SACD, then Runnicles (Telarc) is incomparably more vivid both as a performance and recording.
