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!
©
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.
©
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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