With its mixture of funny, bawdy and hedonistic texts taken from anonymous poets of the Middle Ages, twentieth century German composer Carl Orff (1895-1982) created in Carmina Burana a choral work of powerful pagan sensuality and direct physical excitement. The pulsating rhythms, colourful orchestration and dynamic choruses, contrasted with moments of sensuous innocence, have taken Carmina Burana into the world of ‘pop classics’. The work has also provided the backdrop for countless international television adverts, and for the films Excalibur, Natural Born Killers and Badlands. Previous collaborations on Naxos between Marin Alsop and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra have been very well received `Everything in the score clearly stands out under Alsop´s eagle eyes and ears, with syncopated rhythms and canonic passages securely aligned and the Bournemouth brass at their assertive best´ Classics Today on 8559177 `Marin Alsop and her Bournemouth players do themselves proud on this excellently played and brightly recorded disc.´ Classics Today on 8559031