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Enok
Account closed
Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 16 |
IronLord - renaissance/medieval inspirations?
One of my favourite tunes from back in the days was the Iron Lord theme by Jeroen Tel/Vibrants. This piece was featured in many demos (Stack by Beyond Force comes to mind) and also seems to be popular among C64 remixers nowadays.
A bit similar to this one is 'Fire Lord' by Ben Daglish.
I wanted to find music that served as inspiration for these great tunes and have spent a lot of time listening to various authentic and non-authentic medieval, renaissance and baroque compilations (Church and secular) but haven't found anything barely similar...
(Joseph Richard's Defender Of The Crown game musics are a bit similar but were more inspired by J.S. Bach and other composers from the Baroque era.)
I was wondering if anyone could give some tips on the exact musical period where these pieces might originate in and maybe suggest names of composers or albums (preferably pre-1990) that served as inspiration for these really amazing pieces?
Thanks for the help in advance! |
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Enok
Account closed
Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 16 |
The exact links to the SIDs:
http://hvsc.perff.dk/MUSICIANS/T/Tel_Jeroen/Iron_Lord.sid
http://hvsc.perff.dk/MUSICIANS/D/Daglish_Ben/Firelord.sid
(While listening through Ben Daglish's musics, I have found another one that has a similar 'feel' to it --)
http://hvsc.perff.dk/MUSICIANS/D/Daglish_Ben/Wizard_Warz.sid |
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Mixer
Registered: Apr 2008
Posts: 422 |
In my opinion, the "medieval" of music is often an illusion.
There is actual medieval music, but it is different everywhere in the world. Often drums, single string instrument, flute/pipe, chant - kind of thing.
In movies, the Celtic folk music tradition often gets the medieval label, nowadays played with modern instruments like music of Clannad in the Robin of Sherwood TV-series of the 80's.
Iron Lord STIL text mentions a spanish composer as inspiration and Daglish certainly sounds that he draws from the folk music of the isles.
I'd conclude that the tunes are melodically folk and their arrangement and instrumentation most likely by the mid-to-late 80s sid masters. |
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Cresh
Registered: Jan 2004
Posts: 354 |
Polyphonica
Fuga
Baroque Parting
Fugue in G minor |
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Enok
Account closed
Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 16 |
Mixer:
Thanks a lot for the input! I wasn't aware of the STIL info before - I looked up the entry for IronLord ("Ma Julieta Dama") and it led me to dig myself into Spanish renaissance music - massive!
I also agree with your point on what we are presented as 'medieval' is usually either folk (from a later period), Renaissance or sometimes Baroque. Medieval music is beautiful in itself but is different from our expectations.
Cresh:
Also thanks for the fugue SIDs! I wanted to write that 'Fuga.sid' is J.S. Bach (and started to look it up but realized that it is already identified as "Toccata in D" in the STIL info). |
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SIDWAVE
Account closed
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 2238 |
anything based on guitar chords, with a flute on top (2 voices) will sound medieval alike. IMO |
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chatGPZ
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 11108 |
thats like saying everything with a 909 and a 303 baseline on top sounds like acid house. |
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Quetzal
Registered: Jul 2002
Posts: 71 |
Pase el agoa, ma Julieta |
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STE'86
Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 274 |
Another potential source of inspiration would be 80's "swords and sorcery".
I would have a look for the King Arthur epic called "Excalibur" from 1981 for a start.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA8MeJFRh04 |
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Enok
Account closed
Registered: Jul 2009
Posts: 16 |
STE'86: (great honor & respect!)
The music used in these movies, is based on (or is exactly) Carmina Burana, composed by Carl Orff, which itself is a modern interpretation of medieval & renaissance music and was composed in 1936. Orff's style became quite popular in movies (Hans Zimmer does seem to like this style)... and it's a really good inspiration source but itself an adaptation.
One other thing I have noticed (and is my reason for asking for pre-1990 sources) that later compilations labeled as 'medieval' and 'renaissance' started to be overtaken by genres such as 'neo-folk' and 'neo-gothic' and dark ambient and other such stuff and therefore fall into the non-authentic category (they do contain traces of the 'real stuff' but they are rather products of our age).
In the past few days (looking into this) I started to conclude that the best (primary) inspirations can be drawn from the manuscripts/handwritten books of those ages and modern musicians who try to recreate that music as accurately as possible.
Secondary (and tertiary) influences are also exciting (such as Carl Orff) and other composers who reinterpret these styles or compose new music using the old techniques.
That is, even modern 'symphonic' heavy metal or synth music that applies the same composing techniques are quite interesting - and to stay at the original question, IronLord and the other SIDs are amazing pieces of music in and of themselves.
(Btw. I'm not really a musician so sorry if I would stumble and bumble too much) |
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Twoflower
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 434 |
http://www.ancientfm.com/
Check that out - lots of renaissance and early baroque on there. Would I be far out to say that what you are looking for is late mediaeval to elizabethan era music (roughly 1300-1600)? Italian and spanish madrigals (like the above mentioned "Pase el agoa, ma Julieta") around 1500 comes as a personal preference to me - if you like it, make sure you don't miss out on Henry VIII's compositions (Pastime with Good Company, etc.). Personally, i'd go on into the late 1600's and check out french court-music as well (Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marin Marais, etc.) |
