Sinners & Saints: The Ultimate Medieval & Renaissance Music Collection [Import]

I defy anyone to listen to this CD in a foul mood and actually still be grumpy at the end of its playing. You can't help but feel your spirits rise as your fingers and toes start tapping along with the beats of the tambourines and drums. I don't even have to have it playing - I can just hear the songs in my mind and it makes me feel glad.

The playing and singing are lively and spirited, and on the whole the song selection is a whole lot more interesting than your average disc of the same old "Terpsichore". (Of course, there is some Praetorius on here too; give the master his due.)

This CD lasts a long time which is nice. It covers all kinds of medieval and renaissance music, from what sounds like gypsy and/or peasant fare to military, courtly and more beatific spiritual and religious sounds. It brings to mind sinners, saints, many earthly fools, and a few sinners who thought they were saints. A good listen, helped by an insert with lyrics, that unfortunately doesn't always identify the languages of the song. But that doesn't distract from the listening pleasure and the temporal evocations.

I don't know if this is the "ultimate" collection of medieval and Renaissance music, but it's certainly a darn good one, with more depth and spunk than most I've heard. The wide variety of selections, ranging from martial to spiritual and courtly to folksy, were drawn from four prior releases of Philip Pickett and the New London Consort: "The Feast of Fools", "Dances from Terpsichore", "Llibre Vermell" and "The Pilgrimage to Santiago". The CD insert suggests that "the sinners and saints that exist in everyone" will be drawn to this recording. "What you're listening to is not the domain of museums, but the music of the people, born of faith and the love of song and dance." And indeed, Philip Pickett and the New London Consort bring this music undeniably to life. Their sound is rich, full and quite winning. It is unfortunate that said insert, while containing texts and translations for all the songs, is rather lacking in information about the performers and instruments, but all in all, there seems to be a full complement of male and female singers, recorders, reeds, bowed and plucked strings, a hurdy-gurdy, drums, tamborine, and even an organ. If you enjoy this CD, you'll also like "The Little Barley-Corne: Winter Revels from the Renaissance" and "The Way of the Pilgrim: Medieval Songs of Travel" by the Toronto Consort, as well as "A la Via!: Street Music from the 13th to the 16th Centuries" by Ensemble Anonymus and Strada.