Seiji Ozawa conducts Orff’s “Carmina Burana” at the 1989 New Year’s Eve Concert
“O Fortuna” – Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana begins with a powerful invocation to the goddess of fate. The medieval texts deal with themes such as power and envy, drunkenness and gambling, and love and unbridled joie de vivre. The work became one of the most popular of the 20th century thanks to the emotional immediacy of its melodies. At the 1989 New Year’s Eve Concert, the Berliner Philharmoniker gave the audience a spectacular start to the new year with Carmina Burana under the direction of Seiji Ozawa.
Seiji Ozawa had been a regular guest of the orchestra ever since his impressive debut with the Philharmoniker in 1966. A friendship soon developed from their collaboration, which was characterised by the fact that the approachable conductor always allowed the musicians freedom in their interpretation while maintaining the most detailed knowledge of the score. Following the death of chief conductor Herbert von Karajan in the summer of 1989, Ozawa was entrusted with conducting the traditional New Year’s Eve Concert.
Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, performed by the Philharmoniker and Ozawa, together with the soloist trio of Kathleen Battle, Frank Lopardo and Thomas Allen, plus the Tokyo Shinyu-kai Choir and the Berlin Staats- und Domchor, is a cantata of sophisticated simplicity: the melodies, reminiscent of counting rhymes, sound as if from an earlier time – instead of sophisticated thematic work or even counterpoint, Orff’s work captivates with a pulsating energy and exhilarating climaxes.
Berliner Philharmoniker
Seiji Ozawa
Kathleen Battle
Frank Lopardo
Shinyu-kai Choir
Boys of the Berlin State and Cathedral Choir
© 1989 Sony
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Artists
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