Another generous double-CD helping of widely cast and richly conceived music from the prolific American-domiciled Russian pianist and composer, with the sleeve booklet offering both a detailed musical overview by Susanne Lorge and Eckemoff’s usual range of figurative imagery. Unfortunately, her highly finished fantasies of castle, mounted knight and candle-lit interior are straight out of the kitsch playbook.

Riccardo Bertuzzi (elg), Carlo Nicita (ss, as, bf), Eloisa Manera (vn, elvn), Riccardo Oliva (elb) and Trilok Gurtu (d, pc) offer a sumptuous range of tonal and rhythmic tapestries to complement Eckemoff’s work on piano, organ, clavichord and synths. Eckemoff says “I dreamed about being born in medieval times.” But she also reveals that an early background in prog-rock informs this music.

So we are a long way from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal or the Trio Medieval vocal ensemble who have recorded for ECM. I have to say, I liked the (all-original and very mood-rich) music here much more when I forgot that it was supposed to be a suite about “scenes from the dark ages”. It’s quite some time since Vasari’s strong but misleading pro-Renaissance view of the bad old dark days was kicked out of court, but I can’t imagine that this diversely spun fantasy (sample the kicking heavy guitar and drum work on Tournament, the organ-fed floating sonorities of Alchemist and the flute-led Quest) is going to propel too many listeners to the library or museum in search of historical truth(s). But, undoubtedly, as always with Eckemoff, there’s plenty to enjoy here.