Carmina Burana (cantiones profanae) (Songs of Beuren, profane songs).

The following notes were taken from a page written by Marin Alsop on the website of npr music: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6471891 - on this page there is also a link to an audio recording of Carmina Burana.

Carl Orff's Carmina Burana is a unique piece of choral music.   Its 25 movements, some extremely short, offer music for every mood imaginable.

The subject matter covered in Carmina is pretty basic: love, lust, the pleasures of drinking and the heightened moods evoked by springtime. These primitive and perennially relevant themes are nicely camouflaged by the Latin and old German texts, so the listener can actually feign ignorance while listening to virtually X-rated lyrics!

The music itself toggles between huge forces and a single voice, juxtaposing majesty and intimacy with ease. The music's style is equally inclusive, ranging from simple chant to almost rock-inspired rhythmic sections. The opening and closing tracks, both titled "O Fortuna," mirror each other: They begin with all forces at full throttle, then immediately scale back in an ominous warning repetition that builds to a climactic close. Between these bookends lies music of many diverse styles and a humour underlying the lewd nature of the lyrics, all combining to create a wonderful immediacy and accessibility.

Carmina Burana has enjoyed remarkable popularity and longevity: excerpts have been widely used in movie trailers and television commercials throughout the world. Portions of the work are heard in films ranging from Excalibur to Natural Born Killers to Jackass.  That may not have been what Orff envisioned when he wrote Carmina Burana in 1936, but he did have much more than a straightforward musical experience in mind. He subtitled his exuberant hour-long oratorio "Cantiones profanae, cantoribus et choris cantandae, comitantibus instrumentis antique imaginibus magicis," or "Secular songs for singers and choruses accompanied by instruments and magical images" — hardly typical concert fare.