“Carl Orff: Carmina Burana - Eugene Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra,” Harve Presnell, as Baritone, Janice Harsanyi, as Soprano, and Rudolf Petrak as Tenor (restored cd of 1960 recording)

Re-posted by N.S.

This is always titled, as if Carl Orff were the composer. He wasn’t; the composer’s identity is unknown. Orff found the composition in a stack of papers in a trunk in an attic, and spent years editing it. Thus, he is due credit as editor and perhaps arranger, which is plenty, but it’s not his music.

Years before he became a star of Hollywood musicals (e.g., The Unsinkable Molly Brown, starring Debbie Reynolds, 1964, which I found intolerable, and turned off after 15-20 minutes, just after someone burned up a fortune in the oven) during their last gasp, Harvey Presnell (1933-2008)—he dropped the “y” for performing purposes, go figure—had been trained as an opera singer and, as this performance shows, was successful as one.

In 1965, he gave the most stunning performance I’ve yet to hear of the classic American folk song, “Shenandoah,” by any man.

Hear him also sing Lerner & Lowe's greatest song, “They Call the Wind Mariah.”

The young Presnell was a strapping, blonde giant with matinee idol looks, stood 6'4 3/4," and reportedly had a 1.8 octave vocal range. He spent roughly 20 years—1976-1996—touring the country in inferior musicals (Annie, Daddy Warbucks, etc.).

When he came back to movies, as a tough, bald old man, he was spellbinding as a dramatic actor. He played a ruthless, yet in his crusty way, admirable businessman in Fargo (1996). And in Spielberg’s Top 40 masterpiece, Saving Private Ryan (1998), he provided one of the unforgettable moments in the history of the medium, when as (five-star) General of the Army George C. Marshall, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his adjutants inform him that three Brothers Ryan had been killed in action during the Normandy invasion, with a fourth missing in action. In a scene which my regular readers (and all American patriots above the age of ten) will know by heart, General Marshall takes out an old letter written to a Massachusetts madame named Mrs. Bixby, who had lost five sons in battle, and starts out reading from it, before closing his eyes and reciting the rest by heart, signed, Abraham Lincoln.


Carmina Burana was one of the favorite musical works of my longtime, live-in, West German girlfriend over there. She had a beautiful recording, which she frequently played.

4,788 views Jan 3, 2018

Harve Presnell, Baritone
Janice Harsanyi, Soprano
Rudolf Petrak, Tenor