Orff: Catulli Carmina / Trionfo di Afrodite

After "Carmina Burana" - Carl Orff's most famous piece - the composer went on to write two large compositions for soloists, chorus and instruments which completed the trio of "Trionfi." The current recording presents very fine performances of these two compositions, the "Catulli Carmina" (1943) and "Triumph of Aphrodite" (1951). The last of these is a genuine discovery, a very interesting and attractive take on Greek culture.What's also notable about the "Triumph of Aphrodite" is just how contemporary it sounds. Its stylistic closeness to modern American composers like John Adams and Steve Reich, in turn with a kinship to many trends in popular music, is clear. Built on small repeated motives, clear textures and strong rhythmic interest, it is music truly ahead of its time. It is funny and also instructive to contrast the modernity of "Aphrodite" with Arnold Schoenberg's declarations about the historical inevitability of his music and the serial, twelve-tone technique he developed. While Schoenberg's music - whatever one thinks of its quality- sounds very recognizably from the early twentieth-century, Orff, someone who spent most of his life teaching younger children and who made no such grand claims for his art, would have anticipated so many trends. (Note that I am making no claims for any sort of influence - just anticipation.)Whatever its historical place, I think you will enjoy "Aphrodite." I'll point to the stunning third part, "Wife and husband", as particularly striking and the call-and-response section of Part IV is gripping and I think an instant classic. This is terrific music. I have known the "Catulli Carmina" for many years and, while it is original, it doesn't strike me as being in the same league of quality as the two other "Trionfi".The performance here, led by Franz Welser-Most, was made in Orff's native Munich and is entirely successful. The two soloists - soprano Dagmar Schellenberger and tenor Lothar Odinius -- are better in the "Catulli" than in "Aphrodite" but are solid throughout. I know the Eugen Jochum version of the "Catulli" and think this Wesler-Most interpretation is comprehensively superior.The EMI recorded sonics are outstanding. This is a very good disc and "Aphrodite" is must listening for those interested in twentieth-century classical music. 5 stars.

I always wanted to know what and how was these both Carl Orff's works: "Catulli Carmina" and "Trionfo di Afrodite". They are surprising works. And the record is excellent, too.

Orff's Carmina Burana has always been one of my personal favorites. I found out that Catulli Carmina and Trionfo Di Afrodite, together with Carmina Burana for a musical triptych, though the two former are rarely played, and even more rarely recorded. I finally found them in this CD. I don't find them to be anywhere near the quality of Carmina Burana, by as part of my very informal musical education they provide a significant interest to the work of Orff.

Catulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite, the sequels to Carl Orff’s ubiquitous cantata Carmina Burana do not, musically speaking, strike lightning twice. Carmina Burana’s repetitious chanting and rhythmically taut styles are all here, complemented by lots of choral and vocal work, but are missing the short, episodic variety of musical settings, memorable melodiousness and simple, peasant dance styles, and the witty and colourful orchestrations of their older brother. The music here is a strange mélange of Stravinsky’s primitivistic, off-kilter rhythmic incisiveness, John Adams’ relentless, mantra-inducing repetitiousness, and a certain neo-Medieval quality, all of which is never dull, but can be challenging.The subject matter of these two cantatas are licentiously tumescent with Catulli, essentially a stage play, giving a rather detailed anatomy lesson to young lovers and Trionfo erupting in ululations midst the throes of love, all of which is taken from Greek antiquity but would make Danielle Steele blush. Catulli calls only for percussive accompaniment (including four pianos and a lithophone), thus leaving much of the work for a cappella chorus and soloists. Trionfo also calls for a wide battery of percussion (only three pianos this time, but additionally three guitars and two harps) but has a normal complement of orchestral forces, although Orff uses the orchestra rather sparing, again putting the focus on chorus and soloists.The highlight of this recording is the two soloists. I do wish Dagmar Schellenberger was featured more, her stylishly-suave soprano quality handling the wide ranges with ease, not a heavy, oratorio style, but reminding me much of the silky Sylvia McNair in Carmina Burana on RCA. Tenor Lothar Odinius is not my normal preference for a tenor sound, he has a quick vibrato, verging on bleating, and does not have a particularly heroic quality in an Italianate way, but Odinius really captures the youthful lover quite well and tunes exquisitely in large swaths of treacherous a cappella singing and wide, awkward leaps. Additionally, the smaller solos in Aphrodite are very fine with Alfred Reiter standing out for a wonderful mix of singing and Sprechstimme towards the end.I am more divided regarding the Linz Mozart chorus, however. I think the quantity of singers is good, as the loud tutti portions (there are a lot) are full and satisfying and their tuning, in what I would consider precariously difficult choral writing, is right on. The men in particular give a solid sound, but the women’s sections are a bit boy choir-ish in sound quality - slightly breathy and too vibrato-less for my liking, a personal preference, although they do capture the youthful maidens idea well. The octave work in the opening Trionfo is not the most precise, but the chorus performs with gusto and their diction is excellent. I will say the chorus slips into character during Catulli quite well, and when they leap into full choir mode it can be startling.The sound on this 1995 EMI performance is good. The volume required a bit of nudging up to get a good balance of voices versus percussion, mostly because of Orff’s wide dynamics for the chorus, as the quietest, fastest bits of the chorus are a bit too hidden in the soundscape. That said, the sound is very natural for a studio setting, the chorus and vocalists only occasionally needing a more up-front, present miking. The Munich Radio Orchestra is very good here, in a limited role outside of the percussion, and balances well with the other forces.Franz Welser-Möst is a bit more impetuous with tempos than Orff instructs, but all to exciting effect, and nowhere does Möst ask for more than his ensembles can provide (no running off the rails here). Möst gets commitment from his choral and vocal forces and is all-around successful with minor fallacies. At 79 minutes, this is a full program, although the music itself may have limited appeal; for me I enjoy these unusual, rare choral works. Thankfully, full texts are included in the liner notes.I actually appreciate that Carmina Burana is not involved on this recording, as I need another like I need another hole in my head. I understand this program will not have wide appeal without Carmina Burana, so there is a 2-CD set with all three, also on EMI under Möst. There are few other collections of these works, Eugene Jochum on DG in older mono and his stereo version featuring only Catulli also on DG. Smetacek is thrillingly full-throated, but hard to find on CD, and Ormandy recorded only Catulli with a relatively slack Carmina Burana found on Sony. The biggest rival is Herbert Kegel on Berlin Classics or Brilliant who has the combined Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig Choruses that sing wonderfully, but suffer less-than-secure soloists which greatly mars his Carmina Burana.For me, that leaves Franz Welser-Möst with characterful choral singing, an excellent set of soloists, in good EMI sound. I will be the first to admit these works are lesser than the original and the compositions aren’t for everyone, but they are audacious choral/percussion works that are right up my alley for their oddness and the rarities they are on record. Recommended.

The greatest appeal of Orff's Carmina Burana is O Fortuna. It is among the most powerful and deep compositions of classical music. There is a significant percentage of the fans of Carmina Burana who loose interest in the rest of the music. They should not buy parts two and three of the Trionfi. Nothing resembles O Fortuna in Catulli Carmina nor Trionfo Di Afrodite. For the rest of us who like the sublimeness of the other scores in Carmina Burana, Catulli Carmina and Trionfo Di Afrodite has little to offer. None of the scores have the depth, power nor sweetness of any of the Carmina Burana scores. It offers only sour notes, operatic dialog and no memorable melodies

The music and recording quality was fine, but I just had one issue where the track names weren't appearing properly on my car stereo display. It looks like they were supposed to be there, but just showed as "Track01", "Track 02", etc. Don't let this keep you away from buying if you like the music though.

There aren't many recordings of these two out there, compared to the number of Carmina recordings, which is a shame, as these are worth a listen too. This is a decent DDD recording. If you need a recording of Carmina to go with this to complete the trilogy, then I recommend the Philharmonia/Riccardo Muti recording (also EMI).Note: maybe there are different versions of this - my copy did come with a book of the complete librettos.

Lovely music, well played. I have marked the product down because the words did not come with the disc: there was just a flimsy piece of paper with details of the performers. I like to know what the singers are singing: and I was hoping to translate some of the verses for a book of erotic poems I'm writing. But the music is lovely.

Out of interest I wanted to hear the sequels to Carmina Bursna by Orff. They are both terrible! Don’t waste your money.

On the Triomfo di Afrodite - one track is unplayable due to a visible scratch