The first classical recording: #1 Anonymous - Carmina Burana
More upbeat than I was expecting to start off with - I believe these are at least partially religious texts, but the music is already not using the instruments I expect. The description of 'minstrel' music I heard does describe it, with drums, lutes and flutes.
Starting off on a new list like this, I do have my prejudices, but so far they have not been confirmed. This sounds quite different from what I was expecting, folksier music than what you'd associate with classical music.
About ten minutes in we do get something closer to this, but even that is a vocal performance enhanced by drums. It's slower, but works its magic just as well, not letting up. It refuses to sink to the background, without dominating. The performance here is also impressive, with a lot of force behind it. In other places, the vocals do sound odd - almost enforced laughter in places by the way it goes up and down, and it becomes odd to interpret. It does make the religious celebrations feel less solemn, and I can't help imagining how it would look like during worship or similar. I'll admit though, there were times where I was waiting for the flute or lute to come back.
More 'expected' female operatic voices appear near the end, where it presumably draws on those roots. These vocals do still sound as enticing.
The album has a wide variety of songs in there, presumably reflecting the musical tastes of the time, from oratorios to drinking songs. Just as an insight it's fascinating, and as music it's enjoyable. Especially so as it appears to introduce several tunes that I feel were reused plenty of times since.