Wednesday 29 June 2011

Trouvère (UK) -- "Novela" CD


Trouvère are a British group who mainly specialise in authentic Mediaeval music. I picked up this CD a few years ago at a mediaeval festival, and was instantly struck by its atmosphere and beauty. Unlike their other albums, which contain 'authentic' arrangements of music from the period, "Novela" has more of a creative, contemporary folk feel; acoustic guitar and flute are the primary instruments, and they have allowed themselves to interpret the music as they wish. In places, the music and feel remind me of Ulver's sublime acoustic album "Kveldssanger", and also some of Mike Oldfield's acoustic guitar work on his early albums.

I had been meaning to upload this album for a while, but I have found a band-sanctioned Last FM page on which you can download the whole album at 128 kbps, so I here provide that link instead:

http://www.last.fm/music/Trouvere/Novela


I would also encourage anyone who enjoys this music to buy a copy of the CD from the band's website:

http://www.medievalminstrels.com