Every so often I get a hankering for some good medieval music - rounds, tambourines, the whole bit. But I don’t know any groups that play that sort of music - I just hear it occasionally on the radio or at church and it sets me thinking I’d like to add some to my collection.
Anyone with a recommendation?
It’s only on vinyl, as far as I know, but an old favorite of mine is “In a Medieval Garden” from Nonesuch Records.
Mediaeval Baebes for some vocal stuff, but it’s popified.
Corvus Corax can be a lot of fun…
A couple of quick favourites -
Jordi Savall and Hesperion XXI (formerly Hesperion XX) La Prime Estampie Royale, as but one example.
Marcel Peres and Ensemble Organum - Choral stuff rather than the instrumental things you mentioned, but outstanding. Se Galaas et le puissant Artus by Cunelier, from the Codex Chantilly.
I don’t know if this would be authentic enough for you or not, but I find Jethro Tull’s “Songs from the Wood” to be very Medieval sounding. And much of their other work too, for that matter.
A group called Musica Antiqua puts out some nice stuff.
There’s a syndicated weekly radio program titled “Millennium of Music”, touted as “European music from the 1000 years before Bach”. That includes your time range, so some of their stuff might suit you. They also have streaming audio, with an archive of about 2 years. http://www.millenniumofmusic.com/streamingaudio.php
Their collaboration CD, On the Way to Bethlehem (Music of the Medieval Pilgrim), is one of my favourite albums in any genre. I’ve sold of few copies of it for them by introducing it to other people.
Naxos Records has (had?) a vast catalogue of composers, including Hildegarde of Bingen, a 12th Century mystic and composer. Click around and you’ll certainly find some of her music online.
In addition to the Mediaeval Baebes, there’s a group called Chanticleer that specializes in music of that era. And if you live in or near a state that hosts Renaissance festivals, all the groups therein have CDs by the boatload they’d love to sell you! Pretty sure there’s a RenFest podcast out there, an offshoot of the Irish and Celtipc podcast. My personal favorite is In Our Cups, a trio of nice girls who sing raunchy tavern wench music. Authenticity is not guaranteed, though…
Anything by Sequentia, a mainly a capella group. Their CD of songs in praise of the Virgin Mary attributed to King Alfonso (El Sabio) of Spain is great.
Also anything sung by the Anonymous 4, an ethereal women’s a capella group.
For music that includes instruments (theorbos, sackbuts, and the like), anything by the Waverly Consort is great. For example, their “Music of 1492” CD. (Renaissance, not strictly medieval, but definitely “early” sounding.)
Gothic Voices is another terrific group. There’s a CD of medieval French songs which is awesome – you’ll be humming the tunes, they’re so melodic.
Wolgemut is fun-- they’re a German “loud band” with shawms and bagpipes out the wazoo (and a lot of humor). Very danceable, and a lot of it is early dance music.
There’s also a band called Estampie which is awesome.
If you want an online radio station streaming German “neo-medieval” music, try Radio Monacensis.
And, of course, there is the classic episode of Kaamelott - La Quinte Juste, extrait du Livre II. (Malheureusement, c’est seulement disponible en français.) (Sadly, only the French version is currently available; there was one with subtitles but it has been taken down.)
Dead Can Dance performs/ed quite a bit of music in this style, some of it even historical.