Carmina Burana:

Carl Orff Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra. Polyphone Recordin. Reviewed by Gordon Campbell.

This doesn't sound too promising. So who really needs 700 year old poems set to music in 1937 by a German music teacher? You'd be surprised, this is one of the most exciting, colourful works in the classical repetoire. Its so strong, rhythmically, and this together with Orff's dissonant counterpoint effects make it immediately accessible to a rock audience. All too often traditional orchestral music sounds bland to ears raised on rock dissonances; the string sections especially often seem just too full and mushy. It doesn't happen with "Carmina Burana", as anyone lucky enough to catch the Town Hall performance a few months back would agree.

The lyrics are pretty interesting too. They were written in the 12th century by the "gollards", bands of wandering dropout monks and students who had taken to the life of the tavern and open road. The songs begin and end on the theme that life is short, morality and justice arbitrary conventions, with death the only certainty. So these medieval yippies advocated that you ramble round, booze and screw as much as you can while waiting for the end.

This version is the only one currently available, though Delta plans to release Orff's official-ly endorsed version fairly soon. But like some of the other good things on Polyphone this version is a real bargain at $3.99. Check it out if you're sick of your rock collection and want something a little different.