Carl Orff’s masterwork of 20th-century opera in a benchmark recording that set new standards of sound quality and interpretation. Born in Munich in 1895, Carl Orff is one of the most fascinating phenomena in the music drama of the twentieth century. He rose to prominence with his Carmina Burana, a work of dynamic vitality. Die Kluge tells the story – in the style of a fairy tale and in the spirit of a Brechtian lesson from life – of a king, a peasant and the “clever girl” of the title, his daughter, who holds all the threads of the plot in her hands. A musical stroke of genius, fresh as the day it was recorded thanks to its remarkable acoustics and the aesthetic concept underlying its sound.

“The recordings were made between 1976 and 1980 and, alongside Herbert Kegel’s Beethoven cycle, are remarkable among the conductor’s recordings for the quality of their sound. For many years now this record has been a regular choice on the turntable of many German audiophiles wanting to demonstrate a truly impressive atmosphere and dynamic low-frequency impulses … It is one of the most impressive recordings to be made in Europe during the last 30 years.” - Dietrich Brakemeier, Living Stereo, Munich 1994