The mood quietens immediately with the chanson Quant voi la flor novele ("When I see a new flower"). An anonymous trouvère song, it is reminscent of a love song but is in fact a very tender tribute to the Virgin. This is sung serenely by Landauer, magically accompanied only on a solo gothic harp. Very beautiful in a misty, haunting way...

... the mood unbreaking, in a stroke of genius, the harp enters in the next track, very tranquil, as it seamlessly introduces Cantiga No.147 A Madre do que a bestia. Sykes's eerie moaning introduction, in a voice full of lament, may be very weird to novice listeners, but immerse yourself into the atmosphere of the music; think of the otherworldly time these songs come from, and you'll get used to it. More story than song, this piece is demonstrative of the oral-historical quality of the Cantigas.

An old woman asks a shepherd to take care of her sheep. When she asks for it back later, he has hidden it and lies to her that a wolf has eaten it. Angered, the woman beseeches the Virgin to help her, and the sheep, from where it was hidden, says out loud "I-I-I-am-am-am-her-her-here!" The informal qualities of these pilgrim songs can be heard in the way Sykes plays out the roles, using an "old crone" voice for the woman and a nasal bleating voice for the sheep. Fiddles, harp, percussion and recorder colour the music.

Cantiga No.48 Tanto son da groriosa ("So glorious are her very merciful deeds") is a joyous celebration of the Virgin's kindness in diverting a stream to the dry monastery at Montserrat. Melodious and memorable, what constantly strikes me about these uplifting cantigas is how even when describing evil or villains, the music is always so sunny and cheery - which makes one feel hopeful and happy, because you know the Virgin will save us.

What's the Dif? Troubadour: Lyric poets or poet-musicians of 12th-13th century France. The troubadours are from the south of France and wrote in Provençal, otherwise known as the langue d'oc. About 2600 troubadour poems survive today, a tenth with their music intact. Trouvère: Like the troubadours, but worked in the north of France, writing in the langue d'oil, which eventually became modern French. About 2130 trouvère poems have been catalogued to date, with two-thirds of their music preserved.

The troubadour song Quant ay lomón consirat ("If I consider the world") is another jewel in this disc. The first two pairs of refrains and verses are sung slowly, very atmospheric, with the harp quietly sprinkling in the background. Suddenly the pace quickens as the recordist (all praise to Michael Posch) leads the fiddles and drums in a fast-paced, exciting, action-packed torrent of melodies. Listen to the recorder lines, the natural sense of ornamentation, flurrying trills and the many voices and colours Posch draws out of his instrument. The spontaneous and thrilling quality of his playing is simply breathtaking!

The only flaw of this disc is the notes - should have been proof-read one more time. The libretto for Comencerai a fere, O Maria, maris stella and Los set gotxs is missing or not provided (the last can be found in the other Llibre Vermell collection). There are some minor mistakes in the notes (eg. wrong tracks indicated).

Also, I had a hard time figuring out some things, as the notes - partly written by Posch himself - seem to assume you have considerable prior knowledge. One of these is the title: "The Black Madonna" - I assume it is a reference to representations of the Virgin in the Iberian peninsula (someone please correct me if I'm mistaken), which is of course much culturally influenced by the Middle East. The cover depicts "The Virgin of the Sanctuary" by "a 17th century Spanish Master". The notes only imply the significance, but does not explicitly shed light on the title. [Done! Thanks Ellen! See below]

Nevertheless, I'm certain Posch had the best intentions writing the notes himself - the small font suggests that he tried to squeeze as much as possible into the eleven pages, and sacrificed three libretti for it. In any case, the music speaks volumes for itself.