Orff-Schulwerk Volume 1: Musica Poetica

Lovers of Carmina Burana, here's the flip side of Carl Orff. Similar methods--simple material repeated in intricate patterns--but an entirely different outcome. Schulwerk, a collection of teaching pieces begun in 1930 and further extended in the 1950s, is a collaboration between Orff and colleague Gunild Keetman that celebrates the primacy of rhythm and pulse in our musical makeup and shows that educational music need never be dull. This disc, the first of a series that appeared in the centennial year of Orff's birth (1995), features performers who worked with the composer during his lifetime. The renditions can be considered definitive. --Ted Libbey