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CONTEMPORARY MUSIC REVIEW
April 14, 2005
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By Adam Gilbert
While waiting for Trio Mediaeval to sing at the Herbst Theater on Thursday evening, I marveled at an array of architectural styles:
the Renaissance cupola of City Hall, the palatial entrance to the War Memorial Veterans Building, the Romanesque vaults of the
lobby, and the heroic scenes and Greek columns of the beaux-arts mural in the Herbst. For a boy from the Farm, it was a post-modern
feast for the eyes. I wondered how the sounds of medieval music would blend in, but needn't have worried. The acoustic was perfect
for bringing out the sound of three finely tuned voices, and the program “Music to Hear” was as eclectic as the venue.
The program consisted largely of modern compositions inspired by traditional texts and melodies, many commissioned by the group.
Debts to medieval, Renaissance Jazz and folk music resulted in a mix of medieval drones at the octave and fifth, Renaissance
suspensions, modern dissonances, and soaring leaps. From Perotin to Byrd to Rudder, all in one dizzying phrase, all sung by a trio
with versatile technique to match: a post-modern feast for the ears.
The three Norwegian women of Trio Mediaeval sing, dress, and move together in such blonde, Scandinavian-furniture precision that
you have to guess which is which, but I figured it out: Linn Andrea Fuglseth's ear and voice for folk music soars while singing her
own arrangements of old songs from Norway. Anna Maria Friman sports a Debbie Harry look and a way of leaping to a high note with a
tilt of her head, as if it just occurred to her. Torunn ˙strem Ossum wears the glasses and anchors the group with her a deep mellow
voice. With their matched coats and sleek look, one could be excused for confusing them with a rock group, especially in Peter
Erskine's cheerful The Cherry Orchard, with its echoes of another famous trio of ladies, the Roches.
 Make no mistake: this is not merely a trendy new age group. These ladies can and do sing with effortless ease, entirely from memory. For all the intricate counterpoint they send soaring, nothing highlighted their pristine technique better than their unison singing in Andrew Smith's setting of the Regina caeli. Smith's Ave Maria conjures chant from a parallel universe, one in which only dissonances are sweet. Piers Hellawell's songs from the "Hilliard Songbook" set sixteenth-century texts about color, by the sixteenth-century miniaturist Nicholas Hilliard; the ensemble captured the impressionist feel of the music with perfect octaves and fifths. Linn Andrea Fuglseth's and Tone Krohn's arrangement of "Den elkste Jerusalem" blended Nordic melancholy and Bulgarian vocal style. And, by the way, this group is as nice in person as their stage presence suggests. After the concert, they immediately walked out to the lobby to meet the public, worth mentioning as an integral part of their sincere performance. Trio Mediaeval is something special, and it was a shame more people didn't get to hear them. I missed having texts in the program, especially in the Norwegian songs. Of course I should know Shakespeare's Sonnet No. 8 by heart, but Björn Kruse's textually intricate arrangement could have brought on the Council of Trent single-handedly. The words “music to hear” could have been helped by some texts to read.
I was also sorry for the lack of medieval music, and found myself longing to hear Trio Mediaeval sing a thirteenth-century motet or a Dufay chanson. Perhaps my complaint lies less in the quality of the individual pieces than in their close succession. So many works of varying styles ended up sounding oddly similar. But I also imagine that the juxtaposition of new music and its ancient inspirations would somehow inform both. Exceptional compositions included Kruse's Juoigam, built on a traditional Lapplandic chant with antiphonal drones. This work had me taking dictation in hopes of remembering its captivating melody, rhythm, and “la li la he” refrain. Gavin Bryars' Ave regina gloriosa showed stylistic integrity in eschewing too many styles at once. But more than anything, Krohn's sublime arrangements of the traditional songs "Till, till Tove," "So, ro godt barn," and "Maria-vise" haunt me still. This is music I will remember and hope to hear live again next time Trio Mediaeval comes to town.
(Adam Knight Gilbert is a recorder player and scholar of early music, currently visiting professor at Stanford University.)
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