Warner Classics: 8122799669

Burana In Brass

Carmina Burana & Other Delights

Worth it for the cover alone! The brass sections of the National and Baltimore Symphonies make up the outstanding and highly acclaimed Washington Symphonic Brass. Top-notch arrangements stay faithful to these original orchestral favorites in coloration and character with many instrumental substitutions that surprise and delight. The main work of the CD is Orff’s Carmina Burana, the world’s most popular choral work— after the Messiah. Carmina Burana, which adores the brass anyway, leaves the listener completely satisfied with its sophisticated voicing and heart-pumping massive sound. The arrangement of “Nimrod” from Elgar’s Enigma Variations is a noble reworking, and the versions of the march from Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and the final from Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony emerge from the ensemble’s bells in gleaming waves of sound.