| Catherine Bott |
Sweet is the Song |
L'Oiseau-Lyre 4489992 |
Delightful, if rather 'classical' and reverential. |
| Capella de Ministrers |
Trobadors: El amor cortesano en la Edad Media |
Licanus 0308 |
Especially enjoyable Vaqueiras and Berenguer de Palou arrangements: Vaqueiras's Aras pot hom conoisser e proar is particularly tuneful, though over-abridged. |
| Clemencic Consort |
Troubadours |
Harmonia Mundi HMC 90396 |
Great! Includes spoken vidas and razos for Vidal's Barons de mon dan covit, Vaqueiras's Kalenda Maya ( with the stories about him, Boniface de Montferrat, and Na Biatritz), and Biatritz de Dia's A chantar. For Crusade buffs, the real treat is Peirol's Quant Amors trobet partit, mentioning Saladin and the "marques valens e pros" - the "valiant and noble Marquis", Conrad de Montferrat (yrs truly swoons). |
| Clemencic Consort |
Carmina Burana (3-CD set) |
Harmonia Mundi HMA 190336.38 |
Magic! Lots of great songs arranged thematically. |
| Dulamans Vröudenton |
Minnesänger in Osterreich |
Domino 972.772 |
A delightful selection, from Walther von der Vogelweide and Neidhart von Reuental to Oswald von Wolkenstein, with a bit of Carmina Burana. |
| Early Music Consort Of London |
Music of the Crusades |
London 430 264-2 |
One of the first 12C albums I ever heard, some 23 years ago. Still the best version of Ahi! Amors. |
| Ensemble Convivencia - Strasbourg |
Troubadoure |
Antes BM-CD 31.9041 |
Includes the recording of Raimon de Miraval's Chansoneta farai, Vencut used briefly in Kingdom of Heaven. Lovely version of Berenguer de Palou's Tant m'abelis. |
| Ensemble Lyra - Wien |
Trobadors und der vierte Kreuzzug |
Preiser 90191 |
Lots of Vaqueiras songs dedicated to Boniface, including the 3-part Epic Letter (Valent marqués, sénher de Monferrat, Sénher marqués, ja no.m diretz de non, and Sénher marqués, no.us vuelh totz remembrar), although you have to rearrange tracks 6, 5, 8 to put the (abridged) cantos in the right order! Faidit's exquisite Ara nos sia and Del grant golfe de mar, and a lovely Elias Cairel track, Estat ai dos ans. |
| Ensemble Unicorn |
Carmina Burana |
Naxos 8.554837 |
Particularly lovely recordings of Procurans odium (to the gorgeous Blondel tune, L'amour dont sui espris) and Tempus est iocundum. |
| Ensemble Unicorn |
Music of the Troubadours |
Naxos 8.554257 |
Highly spirited performances: the lead singer is from a Catalan folk background, and makes an especially delightful job of Berenguer de Palou's Tant m'abelis. |
| Estampie |
Crusaders - In Nomine Domini |
CHR 77183 |
Modern arrangements, which may not appeal to purists, but good fun: it would be a good party album. Thibaut de Champagne's Seigneurs, sachiez is rocked up in lively fashion, and I like the treatment of Peirol's Quant Amors trobet partit (but then I'm a long-term Conrad groupie...). There's also an interesting Carmina Burana track, Imperator rex Graecorum, in Latin and Greek, from the time of Manuel Komnenos and Amaury I of Jerusalem. |
| Fraternitas Musicorum |
A Troubadour in Hungary: Peire Vidal |
Hungaroton HCD 12102-2 |
Brilliant - vocals by Marta Sebestyen, and (abridged to fit them all on) all of Vidal's extant melodies. Quant hom es en autrui is exquisite! |
| Jordi Savall/Hespèrion XX |
España Antigua (8-CD set, includes Cansos des Trobairitz) |
Virgin 7243 5 61964 2 1 |
A marvellous collection, although it gets a bit modern for me (16C). The trobairitz album is beautiful, as is the volume of Sephardic romances. |
| Paul Hillier |
Proensa |
ECM 8373602 |
Rather 'classical' and reverential, but still enjoyable. |
| Paul Hillier |
Chansons de Trouvères |
HMU907184 or HCX3957184 |
Northern companion volume to the above: mostly Thibaut de Champagne, including the exquisite 'Unicorn' song. |
| Kecskés Ensemble |
Gaucelm Faidit: Songs |
Hungaroton HCD 12584-2 |
More Hungarians, with another charming album of Faidit's songs. |
| Claude Marti / Studio der Frühen Musik |
L'Agonie du Languedoc |
EMI "Reflexe" 1C 063-30 132(vinyl) |
I used to listen to this while reading up on the Albigensian Crusade as a student. And invariably ended up on the floor weeping buckets. |
| Martin Best Mediæval Consort |
A Mediæval Banquet, (6-CD set includes The Last of the Troubadours, The Dante Troubadours, Amor de Lonh, Forgotten Provence, Songs of Chivalry, Cantigas of Santa Maria) |
Nimbus NI 1753 |
This is an essential collection! The Jaufré Rudel and Bertran de Born songs are well-done. Dante Troubadours is wonderful! |
| Martin Best |
The Testament of Tristan: Songs of Bernart de Ventadorn |
Hyperion CDA66211 |
Almost-complete Bernie! What more could one want?! |
| New Orleans Musica da Camera |
The Cross of Red: Music Of Love & War From The Time Of The Crusades |
Centaur 2373 |
Scrumptious! Lots of good things: Guilhem IX, Blondel, Richard I, Conon de Béthune, Thibaut de Champagne. |
| Sequentia |
Dante & the Troubadours |
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 05472 77 227 2 |
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| Sinfonye |
Bella Domna |
Hyperion CDA66283 |
I'm not so keen on the Martin Codax tracks (I find his work a bit bland), but the rest is divine! Domna, pos vos ai chauzida has become a favourite. |
| Sinfonye |
The Sweet Look & the Loving Manner |
Hyperion CDA66625 |
Mostly women songwriters - trobairitz. Includes Biatritz de Romans' Na Maria - unique Sapphic trobador song. |
| Sinfonye |
The Courts of Love |
Helios CDH55186 |
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| Studio der Frühen Musik |
Chanterai por mon coraige |
Teldec "Das Alte Werke" 4509-95 073-2 |
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| Gérard Zuchetto |
La Primavera d'Amore: I Trovatori XII-XIII sec. |
Fonè 98 F 22 CD |
Pure bloody genius. One of the most wonderful albums I've heard. It includes gorgeous performances of Guilhem IX's Ab la doussor del temps novel (which includes one of my favourite couplets, "Some go about bragging of love; we have the bread and knife of it"); the flyting tenso between Albert de Malaspina and Vaqueiras, Ara.m digatz, Raimbaut, and the first track I've ever heard by Sordel de Goit (the famed 'Sordello'), Ai las, e que.m fan mei uelhs - one of the most sublimely sensuous songs ever. |
| Gérard Zuchetto |
Les troubadours XIIème et XIIIème siècle |
GALLO CD-529 |
Another marvellous album by the modern master of trobar. The Raimon de Miraval songs are outstanding, especially Bel m'es qu'ieu cant e coindei and Un sonet m'es belh qu'espanda. He also does full justice to the tongue-twisting, witty sestina by Arnaut Daniel, Lo ferm voler qu'el còr m'intra. (And he has such a sexy voice...!) |
| Gérard Zuchetto |
Trobar e Cantar |
GALLO CD-684 |
More Miraval, 2 tracks by Vidal, one by Peirol, and a beautiful version of Peire Raimon de Tolosa's Pessamen ai e cossir. |
