With its mixture of funny, bawdy and hedonistic texts taken from anonymous poets of the Middle Ages, twentieth century German composer Carl Orff 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.