Wow... breathtakingly beautiful! And I can tell you, even belated I’m sooo jealous of the ones that attended this spectacle.
With the realization of this mighty project – a new version of tracks taken from the Carmina Burana (mediaeval song manuscript) – CORVUS CORAX already caused a furor. Now, Berlin’s finest brought their masterpiece on stage, classical with orchestra and choirs. After the spectacular dress rehearsal at Staatstheater Cottbus Cantus Buranus (name needed to be changed cause of copyrights) got its world premier in August 2005 on the museum isle Berlin, on the meadow in front of the Alte Nationalgalerie and recorded for this DVD release. In breathtakingly historic scenery listeners/spectators get a multi-colored and grandiose work with a huge amount of intensive and expressive power, consisting of choirs, ensembles, dancers, orchestra and – of course – CORVUS CORAX.
The round dance begins with an atmospheric intro where men on stilts (moth, newt, toad) crave the attention of two butterfly-girls (just to eat them?). Dressed with wonderful costumes they were gracefully dancing around – performed by Stelzentheater Feuervogel and Showteam Excalibur. With the dancers extending their area, the members of mediaeval band POTENTIA ANIMI found their way onto the stage to energetically support the main band. CORVUS CORAX afterwards entered the scenery on a Latin chariot, driven by a centurion and drown by four black steeds, getting frenetically welcomed by the audience, so that even the musicians from the orchestra turned their heads to watch what happened in their back. Then two choirs (Opera-choir of Staatstheater Cottbus led by conductor Christian Möbius and Choir Ivan Pl. Zajc from Zagreb) move in, all enrobed in white cowls with long jelly bag caps, none even raised during the entire show. Noble dressed ladies of Vocal-Ensemble Psalteria (Prague, Czech Republic) already had found their place on stage.
While the philharmonic orchestra, led by conductor Jörg Iwer, flares up its musical introduction, bagpipes and shawms cue in such distinctive way only CORVUS CORAX can do and build up an unbelievable and marvelous sound experience with Florent Omnes.
My personal highlight at this performance is Rustica Puella that spreads a captivating touch of life and going as on an oriental bazaar, reaching its peak with the entering of soprano Ingeborg Schöpf, enrobed in sumptuous dresses borne by five men. Wim and Teufel themselves fanned her with oversized peacock feathers. What a sight! What a performance! What a voice! All likewise grandiose!
During the show unique instruments got presented, made and created for Cantus Buranus only, as Ardor vom Venushügel uses a huge instrument never seen before in Rustica Puella and Lingua Mendax reveals the biggest shawm of the world.
After one hour and twenty minutes the show finds its Grande Finale in Fortuna, for the last time giving everything and leaving a sold out venue with astonished, stunned people, applauding minutes and spending standing ovations.

DVD navigation is simple and clear: concert, single tracks, setup (for subtitles and Dolby sound) and the documentation about the evolutionary history of Carmina Burana and CORVUS CORAX.
Sound and colors are brilliant. Just the tracking shots appear sort of erratic, not that ideal now and then. But that’s absolutely nothing that curtails anything of this DVD.

What more to say? Awesome, grandiose masterpiece of superlative. Breathtaking! Beautiful! You must have seen that! And I still wish to have been there…