Search - Trouveres Anonymous, Moniot de Paris, Pierre Langevin :: The Minstrel's Journey

Best for Medieval Popular repertoire

gaios33 | Berkeley, CA | 12/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Strada is simply the best when it comes to the medieval popular repertoire. The instrumentals are lively, folksy, and virtuosic. The vocals are passionate and also well within the folk vein. I never thought that I would come across a recording of medieval music that sounded so much like the field recordings of folk musicians that Alan Lomax and his colleagues have made, but this one is it--I have quite a vast collection of early music, and this one far surpasses all the others in its interpretations of medieval popular music. While the two trouvere songs done in a courtly vein leave a little to be desired (look to Joel Cohen's Camerata Mediterranea, Anne Azema, and Sinfonye for good recordings of the courtly repertoire), the dances and folk songs are outstanding. They are exhuberant and literally make you dance--not just sit there nodding your head, but actually dance. This is how all dance music should be, medieval and modern (although I must admit my unfamiliarity with much modern music). Throughout the recording you will hear shrieks of joy, hand-clapping, feet-stomping, and shouts of exhileration. The air of spontaneity is absolutely incredible, and you get this overwhelming impression that you are listening to a bunch of street performers playing to a rowdy (perhaps drunk) crowd, hungry for lively dance music--in this way, this recording boasts more historical faithfulness than most recordings of this repertoire can even approach."