Ian - see also a previous thread, an excerpt from which is below (I don't do blue clicky things either). Peter T had some great suggestions.

Subject: RE: medieval music??? From: Peter T. Date: 12-Nov-98 - 03:30 PM

Dear Susan- Marie, There are a range of different styles and types of music covered by the "Renaissance "music label, especially in England, because the political and cultural life was in some turmoil at the time. There was a lot of church music -- what would become hymns and independent church pieces called motets -- which you can usually hear around Christmas coming out of the mouths of King's College Choir, Cambridge. Some of the star authors are Taverner, Byrd, and Tallis. It is not music to everyone's taste -- but there is something called the 40 part motet by Thomas Tallis you might want to hear at some point -- it is a bit like hearing a warp in the space-time continuum. Anything on CD by the Tallis Scholars along this line is accurate and beautiful. The secular music of the time includes popular ballads and the hot new style from Italy, which was the madrigal. English stars include William Byrd (again), Orlando Gibbons (again), John Dowland, and many others. A lot of this is lute music. A good collection of sung madrigals is "English Madrigals" by the Quink Vocal Ensemble. There is also a lot of Byrd on records by the "Consort of Musicke". If you get interested in the whole period at all, you should look out for any records by David Munrow and the Early Music Consort (He died some years ago, but the records are among the best ever). There is lots of dance music (instrumentals) by Praetorius, which would grace any cubicle. David M. and his Consort did a good record of that stuff too, but I don't have the title in my head.