Harp, lute, pennywhistle, dulcimer, that sort of thing… I’m thinking mostly of instrumental music here, although if anyone knows of some kickass chants or laments, that’s fine too. Jigs, galliards, troubador songs, the whole nine yards; whatever sounds good. Strict authenticity to medieval sources is not a major concern of mine; I’m hoping for enjoyable and evocative selections that are accessible to the modern ear, rather than an academically rigorous recreation of the polyphonic motets of the High Varicose Period or whatever.
Basically, if you were in charge of putting together a soundtrack for a rollicking sword-and-sorcery epic, what music would you suggest? (Assume that you could also freely steal music from other film scores.) Accompaniment for daring feats of chivalry, courtly love, Merrie Olde village dances, traveling minstrel performances, axe-wielding Celtic warriors, wild shieldmaidens, dragonslaying, dungeon-raiding, battling dread necromancers and their vile legions of Harryhausen skeletons in the fog-shrouded catacombs-- anything that makes you want to grab your scramasax and your 8-sided dice and head to the nearest tavern for a tankard of ale.
The Kronos Quartet’s Early Music (Lachrymae Antiquae) would certainly do for mood music, but I’ve always fancied seeing a bunch of rough hewn warrior-poets charging headlong into an evil host of were-folk to the sound of The Birthday Party’s “Release the Bats”.
You couldn’t go wrong with John Renbourn’s The Lady and the Unicorn. It’s all instrumental and is, IMO, one of the most beautiful albums ever recorded.
For music with some semblence of actual historical accuracy, you might like Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band. For instrumental stuff, I like The Gypsy Guerilla Band (lots of dulcimer there!), Michi Reiger (violinist - Czech-influenced rather than English/Celtic, but still very reminiscent of the period), and Sarah Mullen (harp). I like Blackmore’s Night, too.
Personally, I LOVE ren faire music but most of it isn’t even remotely historically accurate - there’s an awful lot of Irish pub songs and sea shanties at your average Ren Faire - and some pretty durn good originals that just SOUND vaguely period. Most isn’t instrumental, but if you are interested in looking into some of it, I heartily recommend:
Seelie Court
Minstrels of Mayhem
Craig of Farrington (Craig Broers)
The Corsairs
Bounding Main
Tourdion
A quick Google should bring up home pages for those groups. Enjoy!
I played a bit of the John Renbourn for my wife (who’s a professor of early music) and she said, “Aha! I know what albums HE’S been listening to!” Specifically, this one.
(Apparently David Munrow chose a particular way of interpreting the ambiguous original notation. The Renbourn performance mirrors that interpretation … as do several pieces recorded by Dead Can Dance. Forensic musicology!)
She also says to give a listen to Hesperion XX (or Hesperion XXI as they’re called now) or their conductor Jordi Savall.
All this and no mention of the Mediæval Bæbes? I have only one of their albums, Undrentide, but I like it very much and it’s pretty much exactly what you want. I especially like the title track, “Isabella”, “Besse Bunting”, and “Omnes Gentes Plaudite”.
Some of it is derived from or recreations of authentic period music, and rest of it is modern composition in the style.
There’s a Public Radio program http://www.indiana.edu/~harmonia/about.htm that focuses on early music. It comes from Indiana U. in Bloomington. The site has playlists, listen-online and that there stuff.
Whoops. I actually had them in my post and inadvertantly edited them out.
BTW, there’s this: RenRadio I believe it is run by Marc Gunn of the (wait for it) Brobdingnagian Bards. Some good music there and some playlists that’ll point you in the direction of more of the same.
The Corsairs–A capella pirates (LifeOnWry already mentioned them, but a link can’t hurt.)
The Shantyman–He used to run with the Corsairs, but now has his own act with instrumental accompaniment.
The Bedlam Bards are always fun, and they even have a CD of Firefly-inspired music for the Browncoats out there.
Amberhawke–My personal favorite. Traditional, trad-style, and fusion music for all occasions. “Patchwork” is a real tear-jerker, and their cover of “March of Cambreadth” (by Heather Alexander, another excellent writer and performer) will have you ready to take an axe to something.
Gregg’s no longer performing solo as the Shantyman. He’s joined with Susan Hickey both professionally and personally (they got engaged last fall). They performed together this past summer as “Starboard Watch”, but discovered the name was already in use. I believe the name has been changed now to “Rambling Sailors”.
I knew they were together, but I thought each was still doing some separate performances at the faires? They were alternating between their solo shows and Starboard Watch shows at Scarborough.
Eh, I could be making an assumption. They only performed at Bristol as a duo, and neither has talked about solo stuff in awhile. While at Bristol, they were still selling their respective solo albums, though.
I recommend The Art of the Bawdy Song by the Baltimore Consort. Good sordid fun. When I ordered it some years back, it was the only entry in the BMG Classical catalog that carried a parental advisory label. The solo works by members of the consort, including lutist Ronn MacFarlane and soprano Custer LaRue are also outstanding.
I once borrowed The Way of the Pilgrim by the Toronto Consort from my sister. She still hasn’t gotten it back yet. Beautiful performances of very catchy music.
One more selection: Venetian Vespers by the Gabrieli Consort. A recreation of a liturgical service as it might have been performed on March 24, 1643 in San Marco’s Basilica in Venice. For those who have never been to San Marco, the basilica, due to its odd mix of architectural elements, has accoustical qualities that are utterly unique. Some of the music in this recording can not be heard as the composer intended unless performed not only in San Marco itself, but in the correct place within the basilica.