It’s a sunny Sunday morning and the house is shimmering to the sounds of this magical music. The Early Music Consort of London conducted by David Munrow were very influential and internationally acclaimed in the field of early music until the untimely death of David Munrow at the age of 33 in 1976.

Early Music Consort of London consisted of a number of renaissance and medieval string and woodwind musicians and singers – many of whom were already well known in their own fields.

From “On The Overgown Path” blog site in an article that chronicles his legacy:

Munrow is best known for bringing little known medieval and Renaissance music to a wide audience. But his activities were not confined to concerts and recordings. He used early instruments in the film and television scores which he composed, including The Six Wives of Henry VIII, A Man for All Seasons, and The Devils (with Peter Maxwell Davies). He also worked with folk musicians including Dolly Cousins and The Young Tradition. And he was actively involved in new music, among the first performances he gave were Elisabeth Lutyens’ The Tears of Night (1972), and Peter Dickinson’s Translations (1971) and Recorder Music for recorder Player and Tape (1973). He was a natural communicator, his BBC Radio 3 programme the Pied Piper was broadcast four times a week for five years and introduced a huge audience to the riches of early music, and he also devised and presented the TV series Ancestral Voices.

There have been successor groups since the demise of the original group but the recording output of the Early Music Consort of London has forever changed our perception of early music. The musical groups predates the web so there is no website. I was lucky enough to find some mp3′s that I’m pretty sure come from the 3 volume collection called “The Art of the Netherlands”.

If you live in the US you can find and listen to the double CD Music of the Gothic Era on Rhapsody. I highly recommend the music, you too can be beguiled.

Antoine Brumel (ca 1460- ca 1515)- Fortuna desperata 6 part

Josquin Desprez – Scaramella va alla guerra

Josquin Desprez (ca 1440 – 1521) – El grillo e buon cantore

Loyset Compere (c 1445-1518) O bone Jesu [motet]

The word madrigal unavoidably conjures to mind 16th and 17th century Italy, scene of the development of one of the most fascinating musical genres in musical history. Born as a poetic form in the 14th century, together with the ballata, the sonetto, and the caccia, the Italian madrigal was recovered at the beginning of the 16th century by Flemish composers who travelled to Italy to instruct the more modest Mediterranean musicians; who, in turn, would not take long to surpass their Northern masters.

I’ve recently been introduced to these beautiful recordings. The website for this group includes a few select pieces, try Ahi cruda sorte mia from one of their album series of late 16th century composer LUZZASCO LUZZASCHI – Quinto Libro di Madrigali as an example. (Yes, they have series of albums from various composers – their are 16 listed in their discography.)

Don’t make the mistake of navigating away from the page of the track you are listening to, or the stream may be rudely interrupted.

According to their website

The Arbor Consort is a semi-professional group of singers based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, performing both publicly and privately throughout the year. Formerly known as “Our Lady’s Madrigal Singers”, TAC was formed over 20 years ago as the official madrigal ensemble of the Michigan Renaissance Festival in Holly.

A diverse collection of fine voices singing a cappella music principally of the Renaissance period, although they also perform as Victorian carolers during the holiday season. As well as Au joli jeu they provide their version of Silent Night on their website. They perform in gorgeous garb of the era. Worth a listen.

We are back! To christen the new server I’ve got a fine West Australian a cappella group for you.

Psallite brings to life the sights and sounds of early Europe and beyond. This 4 part a capella ensemble, in what is now its 13th year together, will delight you with their tight harmonies and quirky arrangements of songs from the deep, distant and delectable past.

Bill Brennan-Jones is the tenor and percussionist, Tonya Lamborn sings alto and is the conductor and musicologist, Sarah Chatfield is the soprano and Digby Hill is the bass voice.

They have three brief samples on their website from their CD called Smacking the Plumpette. The one I’ve chosen is an Italian madrigal by Renaissance composer Josquin Des Prez about somebody called Scaramella who goes to war.

Just an aside for those who might be interested, Wikipedia has a page devoted to his choral works accompanied by midi files for many of them as well as pdf scores.

Where do I find them eh? Another attractive and atmospheric flash website. A pretty enough splash screen and a hit or miss approach to navigation. The link to the homepage is under the banners folks. Popups everywhere. This is a very annoying website. Notice we’ve not even mentioned the music yet.

To continue (did anybody bother to test this site?)… I next clicked on the gallery link. It took me to a picture of a man surrounded by standing stones. On mouseover the stones appeared to glow, okay obviously these link to the pictures in the gallery, two did, the rest were duds. I then clicked on the “back to homepage” which promptly disappeared when I did and that’s all that happened. Not going very well so far. Had to reload the website to continue.

A lesser person would have abandoned the website, I’m told that the average surfer will wait for 10 seconds or less for something to happen. The use by on this site is well and truly over by that criteria.

And whatever you do, don’t press the back button because you will have to wait for the interminable reload again.

The text is all in uppercase and in a very pretty display typeface but totally unsuitable for the slabs of text it is used on.

Enough about the website – suffice that it was an unhappy experience, so gentle readers, please be warned.

The music represented is folk, renaissance, medieval and pagan. The samples are fairly substantial and the recordings are good. The reviews are fulsome and the band does play an astonishing array of instruments that includes a number that I have never heard of before. To listen to the samples, click on “cd’s, DVD’s & MORE” then chose one of the three albums – click on “about the CD” for the samples – you’ll see which tracks are available to listen to.

Insult to injury, they provide “press-text” that is not even text but a picture. This is where I give up.

Renaissance Faire troubadour Owain Phyfe plays a Chitarra Battente (a wire strung, Italian Baroque guitar). He woos his audience with a fine tenor voice that is pure and full of passion. Once heard he is not easily forgotten.

In 1990, he teamed up with the Renaissance Faire jam band Cantiga to form The New World Renaissance Band. With these early music musicians he performs songs from the medieval and renaissance periods in English, French, Latin, Italian, Irish, Welsh and an assortment of other languages.

It is from the performance of Cantiga (and from Cantigas website) that the track A La Una is lifted. The Cantiga music page is worth exploring.

Sadly much of the music that was formerly available on the web featuring Owain Phyfe is no longer available. The New World Renaissance Band album – Live the Legend available on cdbaby does have 2 minutes samples of the tracks. Let me recommend Il Prigioniero and the song written by Henry VIII called Pastime With Good Company as an introduction.

There is nothing of the pedant in these performances – the music is meant to be enjoyed by the player and the listener.

From iTunes competitor Magnatune comes Minstrel Spirit. This Swedish duo consists of David Braic on guitar and vocals and Carolina Lindwall providing the lead vocals. Additional musicians are called upon as required. Both musicians write and adapt music inspired by medieval, celtic, classical and roots music.

This album is beautifully performed, exquisitly recorded and produced (just listen to the acoustic guitar and harp on the track Gabriella). The more I listen to this album the more it grows on me but it was not lust at first hearing like the music of the commercial band Blackmore’s Night who compose and perform similar music. Also worth a listen if you can disregard some of the twee lyrics.

Two major differences between these bands (not forgetting Ritchie Blackmore’s “to die for” guitar playing), is I think the placement of the vocals in the mix and the fact that the instrumental tracks are the standout tracks for Blackmore’s Night. This is not neccessarily the case for Minstrel Spirit. Blackmore’s Night recordings feature and support the vocals of Candice Night while Minstrel Spirit treats the vocals of Carolina Lindwall as just another instrument and this weakens the album I feel.

Even so this album just gets more listenable with each repetition. I am surprised by this revelation after my initial reaction which was a scathing “very pretty wallpaper”.

The songs are exceedingly well crafted, try Grapes For Wine. It betrays David Braic’s progressive rock beginnings. Another good track is Winds of Spain with the nylon stringed guitar underpinned by upright bass in this instrumental. My favourite from this album though has got to be the Loreena McKennett inspired vocal track Winds are Cryin’.

Their new album titled” Higher Hopes Will Touch the Earth and Sky” is due out in August 2006. It’s currently in the final stages of editing and mixing.

Roland Ferrandi

Very, very, short snippets. Hardly enough to whet the appetite really. Download or listen to Mp3s. Pretty enough though a bit uninspiring. Folias D’Espagne de Gaspar Sanz (Baroque guitar) is as good a place as any to begin.

And now as they say in classic Monty Python, it’s time for something completely different.

Renaisssnce perhaps only in the sense that they dress up in the clobber and lustily sing bawdy songs. You’ll be singing along to the chorus of Get up Jack and Strike The Belle. Well I did, anyway. Samples are about 2 minutes worth.

While we are in that neck of the woods have a listen to the Naughty Nymphs

“What do a Russian sword fighter, an Irish actress, and an English kissing wench have in common?” You may ask. These three wanton wenches are wont to sing saucy, scintillating songs, titillating tunes, and other naughty niceties! Come marvel at their melodies, and misbehave with the best.

Listen and learn ladies, as these lasses have little to hide. Gentlemen, have a care, for you may find yourself involved in their fearless frolicking . Not for the faint of heart, nor for those with impressionable children. If your children are laughing, ’tis not their fault!”

This group like the last, attend and perform enthusiastically at Renaissance Fairs that are popular in the States, dressing up as suits the occasion. Try Cuckoo’s Nest or better still Wife’s Lament (O-Roy-O) are the pick of the 60 second samples.