TWO-MINUTE TALK
Unholy matrimony Unholy Vocal group Trio Mediaeval join Arve Henriksen on brass and electronics for a UK tour this May. Lauren Strain learns more about a novel collaboration Your style – mixing medieval sacred and traditional music with work by contemporary composers – is rather unique. Where did the idea for this come from? Linn Andrea Fuglseth: The ideas have developed naturally, by instinct, and been inspired by musicians around us. We started out as an ensemble singing medieval music, especially that from 13th-, 14th- and 15th-century England – later, much of the Italian laude from the Cortona manuscript (12th century). We were very inspired by The Hilliard Ensemble, with whom we studied during three summer schools in our early days. I arranged a few Norwegian folk songs and medieval ballads for us that, in the beginning, we were a bit shy to perform in public. It turned out that audiences really liked them. I was very inspired by the Norwegian group Kalenda Maya and their arrangements of medieval ballads, as well as the Norwegian female trio Tiriltunga – also by folk singers in Norway such as Kirsten Bråten Berg and Sondre Bratland. The contemporary music came sort of ‘knocking on the door’ – even by letters in the mail (from Oleh Harkavyy in Ukraine with his Kyrie in an envelope!). Composers who had heard us wanted to write for us. Their pieces are sometimes in a neo-medieval style – others, not at all. We have commissioned quite a few
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pieces over the years, for instance from Gavin Bryars, Ivan Moody and Andrew Smith, and we’ve had great collaborations with the Bang on a Can composers (Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, David Lang) and their Bang on a Can All-Stars ensemble. We are very picky, though, with the contemporary music. We have to like singing it, and it needs to fit into our programmes of folk/medieval music, as we like to put together combination programmes. We also love to work with jazz/improv musicians, and have done many projects with Norwegians Trygve Seim (saxophone), Frode Haltli (accordion), Ståle Storløkken (piano/ electronics), Birger Mistereggen (percussion), Tord Gustavsen Trio and Jan Bang (live sampling). Working with these people, we use our ‘hardcore trio repertoire’ (folk, medieval, contemporary), and turn it into something new when it comes into the hands and minds of these ‘sound magicians’. A lot of the older music you perform comes from a very specific time and place. Do you think it is always the case that music can stretch across generations and still have relevance, or are there some pieces that are very much ‘of their time’ that people might struggle to connect with today? Anna Maria Friman: I think the only thing people might struggle with is connecting with the old
Latin texts, but I do not see that as a problem. It is actually quite liberating to not always understand the text being sung. Texts and translations can sometimes channel listening in a certain direction, which perhaps prevents us from just letting the music speak for itself. Of course the presentation of sacred medieval music around the world today differs extensively from its original context. Performers are bringing music from thousands of years ago alive in the present – an act of simultaneous preservation and recreation. We completely re-contextualise the music: none of it was written to be part of a concert programme or a recording, nor was it intended to be performed to an audience (as we understand the term today). Today we presume that the men and women who were involved with sacred vocal monophony and polyphony in its original context were convinced of their Christian beliefs and connected to religious establishments. Modern medieval music performers and their audience are, unlike their medieval forbears, not necessarily religious: in the present, anyone can perform sacred medieval music whether they are religious or not. We are free from obligations towards a certain system, and there are probably as many individual perspectives on spirituality as there are performers.
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TWO-MINUTE TALK
Anna: Arve is quite a challenging musician, and sometimes he tries to get us into what we call ‘deep water’, encouraging us to improvise with him – to be creative and listen to the moment and react. But he is also very ‘safe’ and wouldn’t let us drown. You can always trust him. We come from totally different backgrounds and sometimes I very much regret that my classical musical upbringing and studies have been all too strict. Improvisation for classical musicians has never been on the agenda at any of the conservatories where I’ve studied. Hopefully that is slowly changing. It is quite liberating to feel that one can sing and perform outside a printed score. How did you first get into music, and particularly ancient/contemporary vocal music? Where did you study and who were your inspirations? Linn: I studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music and took both Renaissance Ensemble and Baroque Ensemble classes. For my masters, I wrote a dissertation on The Restoration Mad Songs, England, 1660-1700. I also studied for one year in the early music department of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. I loved, and still love, the singing of Emma Kirkby. She was a great inspiration. But first and foremost, I think it was all my choir singing, since I was nine, that gave me a soft spot for old/ancient music – for madrigals, especially. Anna: I did my postgraduate vocal solo studies at Trinity College of Music in London with Linda Hirst and Barbara Bonney. In 2010 I graduated with a PhD in music from the University of York, with the topic ‘Modern performance of sacred medieval music with particular reference to women’s voices’.
Arve, you comment elsewhere that you’re very influenced by Japanese music, particularly its meditative, minimal qualities. Can you tell us more about how Japanese music has influenced your playing? Arve: The focus, the soft dynamics, the phrasing, the connection to the voice, the pureness, the close relationship between the shakuhachi flute and trumpet, the different way of thinking than the western or African approach to grooves and communication... Japanese music is more controlled and restricted. Jazz and the music we are brought up with have, very often, a lot of information connected to them. Traditional Japanese music can often seem, to me, to be more clean and controlled. I like that. Who are you listening to at the moment? Do you have any recommendations for our readers? Linn: Alison Krauss and Union Station! That’s my favourite listening music at the moment. I love listening to jazz musicians, and we have many great Norwegians on the scene nowadays – Solveig Slettahjell, Live Roggen, Kristin Asbjørnsen, Hilde Marie Kjersem, Jarle Bernhoft. On the folk music scene, we have Kim André Rysstad, Gjermund Larsen, Annbjørg Lien, Vegar Vårdal, Unni Løvlid… And looking to Sweden, they have great folk music and musicians as well, such as Lena Willemark and Ale Möller. I still listen to The Hilliard Ensemble – their impeccable intonation and clear way of forming the music, their starts and endings of phrases are completely beautiful. You’ve both been the recipients of some prestigious prizes. Which have meant the most to you? Arve: I feel very honoured by all the positive feedback from different juries and persons that have paid attention to my work. But I have to be honest and tell you that the most important responses come from listeners and colleagues. That is what I treasure the most. Anna: We echo Arve here!
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Alf Solbakken CF Wesenberg
Arve, what does working with Trio Mediaeval do for your own musical skills/attitudes? And vice versa...? Arve Henriksen: Working with the Trio is fun, and a great challenge due to the concept of three voices and trumpet. Orchestrating and blending with the voices is at times very demanding. It requires the ability to play the trumpet in many different ways. I have learned a lot from the Trio regarding phrasing and breathing. To be in an a capella setting you have to breathe and listen in a different way. The tuning issue is different and you have to pay constant attention to all the parameters of the music. It is more fragile, but at the same time you can get even closer to the core of the music simply because this is vocal music, and the voice is so connected to all of us.
Arve: I started out at the age of 12 and quite quickly I became interested in improvisation and wanted to play by ear. That interest was triggered by fantastic musicians from a traditional jazz band playing New Orleans jazz (the Ytre Suløens Jazz Ensemble), and later the members of Brazz Brothers. Over the years I became increasingly aware of folk music from many different places, including Norway. My fascination for all the possible sounds that electronics can produce in combination with the acoustic possibilities of the trumpet has been developed in close connection with musicians I met in Trondheim 20 years ago, and others that I have met over the years – fantastic musicians such as Ståle Storløkken, Christian Wallumrød, Helge Sten, Jon Balke, Audun Kleive, Anders Jormin, Trygve Seim, Nils Petter Molvær, Jan Bang, Jon Hassell and many more. The music conservatory in Trondheim was a starting point of a new area in my life, but two years at the jazz department was enough, and the interaction with other students became of great importance.
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Do you feel it is part of your purpose and responsibility as musicians to keep alive ancient musical traditions that would otherwise be forgotten? Anna: We have always chosen music that we personally like, whether it is medieval, folk or contemporary. The historical responsibility aspect has never been a major topic inside the group. There is a lot of guesswork and individual intuition in performing medieval music, and we feel that performing it today gives us the freedom to let our imagination and ideas flow, as though we are creating contemporary music.
What have been the highlights of your career so far? Linn: We’ve loved giving our school concerts for children aged 6-13 in Norway, as children are very honest and spontaneous in their response. That’s when you hear you should have considered braces, for instance – and that the Trio is better than Britney Spears. And, ‘Are you the three nuns coming to sing for us?’, and many other wonderful children’s comments! We once performed an outdoor concert at a festival in Norway, Vestfold Festspillene, which has really gone down in our history as a fantastic experience. They arranged this concert around a small lake surrounded by mountains, far out in the countryside. It was midsummer – sun all night and a perfectly quiet evening, not a wave on the lake. The audience, 500 of them, sat on the shore on their blankets, and the Trio and four other musicians were placed in different positions around the lake, playing and singing calls from each position. Then we were taken by old, wooden rowing boats onto a small landing stage/quay out in the water, where we continued the concert. The acoustics were great because of the mountains, and every little note was heard clearly. I know the audience still speak about this summer night in June 2000. As do we.
Catch Trio Mediaeval and Arve Henriksen on tour this May: Oxford Holywell Music Room (18), Cambridge Trinity College (19), London LSO St Luke’s (20), Gateshead The Sage (21), Manchester Victoria Baths (22), Devon Lee Church (23), Bristol St George’s (24). www.triomediaeval.no www.arvehenriksen.no
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