Often seen as a quaint relic of the past, folk and medieval music are brought right out of the ancient world by Norwegian group Trio Medival's modern interpretation and attention to detail. Having performed across the globe, from New York to Hong Kong, the Grammy-nominated group is returning to perform at Dartmouth for the third time on Thursday.
Wednesday evening, the musicians shared their expertise with the Dartmouth Chamber Singers in a master class held in Faulkner Auditorium at the Hopkins Center.
"We've always been treated very well at Dartmouth," said Trio Medival member Linn Andrea Fugsleth. "Getting to meet all of these beautiful student singers is wonderful."
Composed of singers Fugsleth, Torunn strem Ossum and Berit Opheim Versto, who is filling in for original member Anna Maria Friman as Friman is on maternity leave, Trio Medival enthralls audiences with a blend of medieval music and traditional folk songs. Some songs performed by the trio are over 1,000 years old, but the group imbues them with new life and makes them accessible even for those who do not speak Norwegian or medieval church Latin.
There was barely an empty seat at the master class workshop, which was open to the public. Undaunted by the fact that the group had arrived in Hanover scarcely an hour before, the trio started out the workshop performing sections from "Villemann og Magnhild," a 10th century ballad about a man who saves his love from a river demon by playing his golden harp. The Chamber Singers, directed by Bob Duff, followed Trio Medival's performance with selections from 16th century composer Toms Luis de Victoria's "Holy Week Matins."
The trio praised the Chamber Singers for their musicality and offered helpful criticisms and tips on Latin pronunciation. They also emphasized the teamwork and self-discipline that is necessary when performing Renaissance and medieval work. The group members' love and respect for medieval music is apparent, but they still manage to keep things light. In one song, the group emulated the sound of a fiddle during a traditional Norwegian wedding march.
"We sing tra-la-la in a very funny way," joked Ossum before performing the playful, layered piece.
Trio Medival members worked well together, creating beautiful harmonies with ease, and there is a down-to-earth quality in their work. The group's relaxed stage presence never lets the audience forget that these were modern, human women singing, not ghosts or statues from a cathedral doorway. The trio ended the workshop by teaching audience members and the Chamber Singers alike the piece "Prayer for the Sun to Come," a sweet, simple Norwegian folk song so old that the meaning of the first line has been forgotten.
Medieval music is "very powerful" and "exciting harmonically, rhythmically and musically. The musical language is ancient," Fugsleth said, explaining the allure that medieval music still holds for modern audiences. Medieval music also has a "found quality to it," which further adds to its appeal, Fugsleth said.
Trio Medival has modernized age-old music to bring a fresh perspective to the performance of medieval music. While medieval music was traditionally performed by an individual balladeer, the group takes it one step further by arranging it for three voices. This arrangement adds vibrancy and texture to the songs and provides a sense of camaraderie for the members.
"The voice is vulnerable," said Fugsleth, "You have to aware of the others. You get inspired by others singing."
The first half of the trio's performance on Thursday will be devoted to songs from its newest CD, "A Worcester Ladymass." The songs are from a Mass dedicated to the Virgin Mary and come from fragments of a manuscript found in the archives of Worcester Cathedral. Despite the group's busy schedule, Trio Medival found time to record its album at an off-the-beaten-path medieval monastery in Austria. The juxtaposition of polished modern recording techniques and the antiquity of an ancient monastery is fitting for a group that transcends boundaries of space and time, bringing music from medieval Europe to a modern college in New England.
Trio Medival will perform Thursday at 7 p.m. in Spaulding Auditorium.
