TIMES TO REMEMBER ~ VOLUME 47

TIMES TO REMEMBER ~ VOLUME 46

RATO'S MUSIC ~ VOLUME 148

RATO'S MUSIC ~ VOLUME 147

RATO'S MUSIC ~ VOLUME 146

RAY MANZAREK ~ "CARMINA BURANA" (1983)

This is a staggeringly different piece of music for those who only know the Ray Manzarek of "Light My Fire" or "L.A. Woman" fame. The 1983 collaboration with Philip Glass and Kurt Munkacsi holds many revelations. As the post-Morrison Doors splintered off into various side projects, Manzarek's notable The Golden Scarab and The Whole Thing Started With Rock & Roll Now It's Out of Control to the Krieger/Densmore schizophrenic unit known as the Butts Band, as well as guitarist Krieger's jazz-flavored solo discs, the journeymen musicians opened windows beyond the music of the Doors. 

Carmina Burana's power emerges from the fusion of musical forms, heralded by Manzarek's sincere approach to the project. The liner notes give an explanation of German composer Carl Orff's rediscovery in 1935 of the Medieval poems found in 1803 from 13th century "renegade monks and wandering poets." The modern-day minstrels that Manzarek and Glass are add a contemporary twist to the music Allen Lannon helped bring to America in 1954, when it was first performed on these shores in Boston. 

There are seven primary musicians who back the chorus, which features ten principal singers conducted by Michael Riesman. The music is intense, evocative, and highly spiritual, with Larry Anderson's drums adding something the rebels from hundreds of years ago would probably be proud of. It was the popularity of the Doors which gave their keyboard player the opportunity to record such a beautiful and compelling work, and hopefully that significance will lead to these 16 selections finding a wider audience.

There is clearly public interest waiting to be tapped, and Ray Manzarek’s choice of Carmina Burana could spark that interest. A few high tech classics can offer what this version of Carmina Burana represents: an unprecedented collaboration between a legendary rock musician like Ray Manzarek and a modern classical talent like Philip Glass.

TRACKS

01. Destiny: Ruler of the World - The Wheel of Fortune (O Fortuna)

02. Destiny: Ruler of the World - The Wounds of Fate (Fortune Plango)

03. Springtime: The Face of Spring (Veris Leta Facies)

04. Springtime: Sunrise (Omnia Sol Temperat)

05. Springtime: Welcome (Ecce Gratum)

06. Springtime: The Dance (Tanz) - (Tanz Mix: Ich Schau D mix)

07. Springtime: Sweetest Boy (Dulcissime)

08. Springtime: If the Whole World Was Mine (Were Diu Werlt)

09. In the Tavern: Boiling Rage (Estuans Interius)

10. In the Tavern: The Roasted Swan (Olim Lacus)

11. In the Tavern: In the Tavern (In Taberna)

12. The Court of Love: Love Flies Everywhere (Amor Volat)

13. The Court of Love: A Young Girl (Stetit Puella)

14. The Court of Love: Come, My Beauty (Veni Veni Venias)

15. The Court of Love: The Lovers (Blanziflor et Helena)

16. Destiny: Ruler of the World - The Wheel of Fortune (O Fortuna)

Music composed by Carl Orff

Produced by Philip Glass and Kurt Munkacsi

Arrangements by Ray Manzarek

Ray Manzarek - Piano, Organ, Keyboards

Michael Riesman - Synthesizers and Orchestrations

Larry Anderson - Drums

Ted Hall - Guitar

Doug Hodges - Bass

Adam Holzman - Synthesizers

Jack Kripl - Saxophons, Flutes

Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935 and 1936, based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana. The first and last movements of the piece are called "Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi" (Fortune, Empress of the World) and start with the very well known "O Fortuna".

O FORTUNE Lyrics 

O Fortune,like the moon

you are changeable,

ever waxing and waning;

hateful life

first oppresses

and then soothes as fancy takes it;

poverty and power

it melts them like ice.

Fate – monstrous and empty,

you whirling wheel,

you are malevolent,

well-being is vain and always fades to nothing,

shadowed and veiled

you plague me too;

now through the game

I bring my bare back to your villainy.

Fate is against me in health and virtue,

driven on and weighted down,

always enslaved.

So at this hour without delay

pluck the vibrating strings;

since Fate strikes down the strong man,

everyone weep with me!

RATO'S MUSIC ~ VOLUME 145

CARL ORFF: "Carmina Burana"

RATO'S MUSIC ~ VOLUME 144

MEMORIES FROM THE PAST ~ AUGUST 1973

MEMORIES FROM THE PAST ~ DECEMBER 1974

RETRO & VINTAGE ~ VOLUME 5

RATO'S MUSIC ~ VOLUME 143

RATO'S MUSIC ~ VOLUME 142

RATO'S MUSIC ~ VOLUME 141

Bernadette Peters 1st Album

  Original released on LP MCA 3230 (US, 1980)

Bernadette's debut album in 1980, titled “Bernadette Peters” contained 10 songs, including "If You Were the Only Boy", "Gee Whiz" (a Top 40 hit single), "Heartquake", "Should've Never Let Him Go", "Chico's Girl", "Pearl's a Singer", "Other Lady", "Only Wounded", "I Never Thought I'd Break" and "You'll Never Know". The original cover painting by Alberto Vargas was one of his last works, created at the age of 84. According to The New York Daily News, Peters «persuaded him to do one last 'Vargas Girls' portrait... She just went to his California retreat, asked him to do one more, he looked at her and said, 'You ARE a Vargas girl!'» She kept the original painting. Rolling Stone magazine wrote of her debut album:

«Peters debuts on record as a first-rate pop torch singer: Melissa Manchester with soul, Bette Midler on pitch. Her album has already spawned the hit single "Gee Whiz," a laid-back, doo-wop version ... that makes Peters' piping, little-girl voice seem almost like a cutesy novelty. There are also a couple of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil rock tunes in which she sounds slightly trashy and out of her depth. The Peter Allen songs on side two are really more her style. In fact, the whole second half of "Bernadette Peters" is just about perfect, from the star's semi-C&W rendition of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's "Pearl's a Singer" to a wistful recap of Harry Warren and Mark Gordon's romantic "You'll Never Know."
But the best cuts are in between. "Other Lady," written by Lesley Gore(!) with Ellen Weston, tackles an age-old problem with... devastating eloquence... and Peters delivers it with the proper brooding introspection. Allen's compositions, "Only Wounded" (co-written with Carole Bayer Sager) and the torchy "I Never Thought I'd Break" (co-written with Dean Pitchford), feature the finest singing on the LP...the unusual absence of airbrushing echo places heavy demands on the chanteuse's sultry soprano. That Bernadette Peters rises to the occasion makes her performance that much more impressive.»