SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Cheltenham Music Festival 2008 (1) : Trio Mediæval and  The Rolf Lislevand Ensemble, All Saints Church (12 Noon) and the Pittville Pump Room (3pm) Cheltenham. 5.7.2008 (BK)

Lessons in Perfect Singing

Trio Mediaeval - Picture © Asa M. Mikkelsen

Trio Mediæval:  are Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth (sopranos) and Torunn Østrem Ossum (mezzo-soprano).

If there's such a thing as perfect singing - and I think that there might  be after hearing this concert - then Trio Mediæval come as close to it as any small a capella group could. Their sound is simply astonishing in terms of  flawless intonation, balance and blend between the three voices, the seamlessly matched dynamics and vocal shading and their immaculate diction in Latin, English, Norwegian or Swedish.

Combining English mediaeval music with Scandinavian folksong in this programme - as they so often do in live performance and for recordings -  their interpretative skills are remarkable, lending to even the most spiritually elevated pieces both emotional warmth and an internalised quality that gives a sense of the music being inhabited by these musicians and not simply sung - a distinction difficult to describe more clearly  but one which becomes very apparent when you hear them. In particular, I was struck by the Alma Mater/Ante Thorum from the Berkeley Castle Select Roll 55 (see link) which came in the set just before the interval. In this, the bird-like quality was sharply reminiscent of Messiaen in its meaning and its ability to link the human and divine via sounds which, whilst being obviously a musical artefact, were nevertheless strongly reminiscent of nature.

This might also account for the Trio's ability to  interpret folk song so powerfully. They do not just attempt to replicate some 'authentic' idea of how folk song would 'originally' have been sung, but they bring it to vibrant life in a fashion which both acknowledges and rejoices in a continuum stretching back to the written mediaeval music in which they excel, through to the folk music of today.  As they say in their programme notes, their songs "are coloured by all those who have performed and passed on the music before us" although they now bear the Trio's own distinctive "musical imprint", which is helped along by the skilfull arrangements by Tone Krohn, Andrew Smith and Linn Andrea Fuglseth herself.

Scandinavian folk music is having something of a golden age at the moment, and the Trio Mediaeval must take their place amongst those at the front of this hugely energised and continuing tradition. Andrew Smith's pieces (Ave Maria, Regina Caeli, and Ave Maris Stella) continued this theme of the old respected, even loved music, becoming reinterpreted in a way which maintains the integrity of ancient pattern whilst bringing to it entirely appropriate new settings. This group of remarkable performers is simply not to be missed either in live concert or on disc.

Rolf Lislevand -  Picture © 2006  Cosmopolite - Norway

Either by pure serendipity or from seriously intelligent design by the Cheltenham Festival organisers,  The Rolf Lislevand Ensemble's concert following on from Trio Mediæval, transferred the same sense of musical continuity to the instrumental scene.  This (mostly) Scandinavian group comprises Lislevand himself - a virtuoso lutenist also from Norway,  who teaches at Staatliche Musikhochschule in Trossingen - and two colleagues playing a variety of  plucked baroque instruments backed by early percussion and a violone. Arianna Savall, daughter of Jordi Savall and his wife Montserrat Figueras,  also sings when not playing her baroque triple harp.

To describe Rolf Lislevand's music, I can do no  better than to quote my MusicWeb colleague Dominy Clements from his review of the the Lislevand Ensemble's disc Nuove Musiche in 2006. He wrote, 'Nuove Musiche is a state of mind, the conception of new artistic expression as it was thought of by a motley collective of scholars, artists and philosophers in Florence at the beginning of the 17th century. The prevailing style of music was declared to be moribund, and the ‘Camerata Fiorentina’ as they called themselves, changed musical history single-handed. The music on this recording is based on the works of composers who were inspired by this new attitude, and if the names Kapsberger, Pellegrini, Piccinini, Narváez, Frescobaldi and Gianoncelli mean anything to you then you are still in for a surprise.'

Yes, you are because Lislevand himself adds, '‘To interpret an existing work is to position oneself at a precise moment in history (which) normally entails beginning where the last imagined performance left off ... Reproducing the same performance merely replicates a past performance rather than producing a new and unheard one.’ He goes on to say that the reality of performing within its modern context, with the associations living within the performers, and the realities of modern spaces and technologies requires better use of the abilities and knowledge of talented and well-informed musicians using sources from the past to inform the ears of the present.

And inform it does. Slightly amplified to help the quiet instruments carry through the Pittville Pump Room, the ensemble played an almost continuous set of music by the composers already mentioned together with more by the Spanish composer Santiago de Murcia (circa 1700.) Some of it was certainly jazzy,  but everything  was  played with great taste  by these expert intrumentalists and  it ranged in colour from the supremely sensuous to the splendidly joyful:  new 'old music' respectful of tradition and modern scholarship in equal measures topped off by one more  lesson in perfect singing.  Arianna Savall's beautiful, haunting and liquid vocalising - she sounds exactly like her mother did more than twenty years ago -  was such as to make the proverbial strong man weep. Together these two concerts made a memorable introduction to the first year of Meurig Bowen's tenure as  Director of the Cheltenham Festival.

Bill Kenny  

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