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CD Feature/ Trio Mediaeval: "Stella Maris"

  Tobias

Medieval vocal music is nice and relaxing, but ultimately boring, isn’t it? You take a bunch of singers, put them in a church and have them sing a couple of old tunes, noone’s ever heard before and noone’s going to remember – doesn’t sound too exciting, does it. Let’s face it: Medieval vocal music is dull and dreary and it always sounds the same, right?

Wrong, very wrong. “Stella Maris” is one of the most colourful albums of the last months and it features almost nothing but – a bunch of singers in a church, singing a couple of old tunes. The big difference with the opening analogy: You are definitely going to remember them! In the course of eight years, Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fruglseth and Torunn Ostrem Ossum have established the “Trio Mediaeval” as one of the few outfits that is able to please both purists and open-minded musical wanderers, suprising listeners with each new release. This, their third album to date, does not stray from the proven formula of combining 12th and 13th century pieces from England and France with modern repertoire, but it presents it in an even more diverse and accesible way. Many of the anonymous medievil tracks that make up two thirds of this record, are enigmatic ethereal master pieces and yet “hits” at the same time, with powerful and haunting melodies and distinctive harmonic progressions. And there is ample alternation in the arrangements: The title track sees a floating melody over a vocal drone, “Flos Regalis Virginalis” allows the three singers to come together in delerious unity and “Dou Way Robyn” presents an almost rhythmical mantra, over which the tune slowly unfolds itself. Sunggji Hong’s “Missa Lumen de Lumine” (from 2002) then even allows for a few dissonants and harmonic friction.

This album also proves that “Classical Music” (what a strangely out-of-place term in this contect) need not decend into the caverns of cross-over to appeal to new audiences. This is the real stuff – and it’s brilliant and seductive enough in its own right.

Homepage: Trio Mediaevil