CD ECM Records Trio Mediaeval: A Worchester Ladymass

2005

Anna Maria Friman - voce
Linn Andrea Fuglseth - vocel
Torunn Ostrem Ossum - voce

Oslo’s Trio Medaeval presents a reconstruction of a 13th century votive Mass to the Virgin Mary, based on surviving manuscripts from a Benedectine Abbey in the English Midlands. Inserted amid the medieval music are a Credo and Benedicamus Domino specially composed for this programme by Gavin Bryars: the old and the new intermingle in the work of this vocal ensemble. Anna Maria Friman: “The members of Trio Mediaeval feel that performing mediaeval music today gives us the freedom to let our imagination and ideas flow, as though we are creating contemporary music.”

***

These three voices blended with a supernatural clarity and beauty that might cause even a confirmed agnostic to contemplate a spark of divinity in these centuries-old manuscripts.
New York Times

This disc fills a gap on the medieval shelf, and it is likely to come off the shelf for repeated listening.
J. F. Weber, Fanfare

The performances are ravishing. The three high, pure voices manage to incorporate warmth in a manner that seems almost impossible; each has a particular timbre, and no singer tries to suppress that individuality. In songs of praise they seem overjoyed, and meditative moments are just as effective; they add an eerie drone to the penultimate number, and chimes to the “Agnus Dei”. The recording, too, is perfect. Behind the three women’s voices is silence – clear, honest, and respectful. This is a must.
Robert Levine, Stereophile

Whatever possesses humans to refine the art of singing to such a level of sonorous purity and expressive simplicity as exemplified by the three women of Trio Mediaeval.
David Vernier, Classics Today

A Worcester Ladymass sources from a series of 13th century snippets (The Worcester Fragments) from the Abbey of St. Mary's, in Worcester, England. Complex polyphony imbues the 18 choices that Trio Mediaeval culled from the hundred-plus songs left by the Abbey's monks, brought together in a cohesive, 50-minute program that also includes two more inherently modernistic pieces, from contemporary composer Gavin Bryars, that remain a contextual fit with its 800 year-old musical cousins. The darker, minor-keyed 'Credo' appears halfway through the song cycle and, coming as it does from Bryars' more considered pen, is the album's longest, most structurally developed piece barring 'Kyrie,' where Trio Mediaeval demonstrates its remarkable ability to combine soaring unison singing with expansive harmonies, as well as an ability to pass melody amongst its members like an athletic tag team—a feat that might be considered impossible, were it not possible to watch Trio Mediaeval actually do it.
John Kelman, All About Jazz

The appeal of this music is its rareness and obscurity crossed with the pioneer spirit of an exceptional vocal trio and a visionary producer.
C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz

Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth, and Torunn Østrem Ossum have voices of exceptional purity and sweetness, and their intonation is focused with such absolute precision that the music rings with clarity.
Stephen Eddins, All Music