Muti's 1980 LP recording of Carmina burana was widely used as a hi-fi demonstration record when it first appeared; remarkable for the resonance of bass and brightness of treble, if not always for balance and inner realism. Timpani and bass drum startled us, I remember, with their power, but it just shows how standard rise that next to the brilliant Chailly/Decca recording in its CD format, this new CD lacks a degree of brilliance, though the orchestra fares better than the chorus and soloists. Next to the Berlin performance with its immediacy and presence the voices seemed to have a gauze over them. So much so, that I brought out my LP, only to find that the CD reproduces the original sound very faithfully, with just a suspicion that the LP is more open.
With this work I suspect that quality of sound will be paramount in any choice, but the Muti performance is certainly the more compelling with its bitingly dramatic choral singing and generally better soloists. The Muti has a slight advantage too in having every one of the 25 numbers separately banded, though not always quite on cue, sometimes a second or two early. The Decca has only 15 bands. It is regrettable that EMI do not make it plain that this was originally an analogue recording. Like PolyGram, EMI should adopt the neat little DDD or ADD formula on sleeves, with each letter indicating what engineering has been involved (see August 1984, page 199— ''Digits made easy'').'