Aeternum: Ancient Beauty (2000/2008)

Romanian ensemble AETERNUM was formed at the tail end of the 1990's, with guitarist and composer Claudiu Contiu as the core member and a fluid cast of members otherwise. They released two albums and one DVD before activities winded down, and currently they are in some sort of hiatus I believe. Although that may of course change. "Ancient Beauty" from 2000 was their first release, and while the original version is no longer available to my knowledge, the reworked version from 2008 can be found at most any digital music retailer you can name. And it is this version I have been sent by a good friend so that I could write about it.

The name of the game here is old music, medieval style. Folk music, but of a particular character. This isn't the tunes the wandering minstrels would perform at the local pubs and taverns for a meal and a drink back in the day. Or rather, while the compositions as such might be just that they were never performed in these arrangements to the public at large back then. Perhaps with the exception being some major fairs, tournaments and other major events. Instead we're dealing with folk music as I would imagine was played and performed by ensembles and groups to the higher class back in the middle ages. Richly arranged, with chamber music qualities, music of a kind I would suspect might be heard on chosen occasions at castles and manors. If at all, that is.

The thing is that medical chamber music most likely is more a fact of medieval fantasy than medieval fact. It is a ploy and sound collage often used in moves and TV-series, but if there ever were actual resources and interest in musical arrangements of this character back in the day I don't know. That's something historians with a special interest in culture will have to answer. But the associations one gets when listening to this music is as described above.

In the case of Aeternum the acoustic guitar have replaced the lute though, and the flute and violin possibly much less used than when the songs covered were written, or in some cases where the compositions inspired by de facto medieval music was constructed. I haven't tracked the origins of these songs, so I don't know if they are all creatures of their time or if some are contemporary cultural fantasies.

Be that as it may be. Acoustic guitar, hand drums, flute and strings are at the core here, in compositions either melancholic or uplifting in spirit, with a slightly timeless feel to them that will transport the mind of the listener back to the days of yore. Music of the kind that the people behind computer games such as Dragon Age and Elder Scrolls, in a perfect world, should have bought and used as soundtracks for their fantasy worlds, as they would have fitted in perfectly.

Medieval chamber music with the heart and soul in folk music rather than classical music is what "Ancient Beauty" is about, and at least partially contemporary rearrangements of ancient material at that. How much of it that is actual medieval music and how much that belong in the realm of medieval fantasy I don't know, but it is a pleasant musical experience, performed excellently by skilled musicians. If you like this type of music this is a band that you should investigate, if you don't then this act won't convince you. But it is a high quality specimen of it's kind.

My rating: 63/100


Track list:
1. Packington's Pound 4:47
2. Bransle de Champaigne, 1552 3:32
3. Allemande 2:54
4. Ballet de Bygot 4:03
5. Bransle de Poictou, 1552 3:59
6. Playfellow (A Jig) 2:14
7. S'amour souspris m'a 3:51
8. Branle Anglais 3:54