Orff: Carmina Burana Suite; Bird: Serenade; Reed: La Fiesta Mexicana.(Sound recording review)

Orff: Carmina Burana Suite; Bird: Serenade; Reed: La Fiesta Mexicana. Harlan D. Parker, the Peabody Conservatory Wind Ensemble. Naxos 8.570242.

My first thought before listening to this disc was how the already rowdy Carmina Burana would sound played by an all-wind band, the vocal parts revised for instruments (arranged for concert band by John Krance). I mean, Orff's twentieth-century updating of medieval songs normally requires a full orchestra, several choruses, and a host of soloists. Would a wind ensemble do it justice or just inflate its coarseness? I'm pleased to say that Harlan Parker and his seventy-odd Peabody Conservatory players do no harm to the piece and in most ways create a new and engaging rendition of an old favorite.

This is by way of saying that you'll recognize the music instantly and find each movement in the twenty-seven-minute suite revealing something you perhaps hadn't thought of before. The Peabody Wind Ensemble of John Hopkins University play with precision, if not with the complete zest and joy that I have heard from some major orchestras; in other words, they sound like they are a maybe a little reticent about committing too much enthusiasm to a set of songs that requires a bit more earthiness. They are not ...