Trio Mediaeval Anonymous Notre Dame School English Anonymous - Stella Maris (12 tracks) +Album Reviews

Seeds Sown in Medieval Times Flower with a Contemporary Work

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 09/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Trio Mediaeval continues its fine reputation and tradition as an exemplary group capable of capturing the essence of the Gregorian chant while encouraging contemporary composers to emulate this classic form of music with new compositions. For this their third recoding the Trio continues to survey early music for a cappela voices and this time adds the tenor voice of John Potter as the ethereal leader in 'O Maria, stella maris, conductus'. The result is incandescent music making.

In addition to the medieval works for which they are well known, this album present the premiere recording of 'Missa Lumen de Lumine' by contemporary Korean composer Sunji Hong. While the twenty-five minute Mass incorporates the fundamental structure of the original chants, Hong suffuses the writing with subtle contemporary moods and passages that are astonishingly appropriate. The work is divided into Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. The performance is impeccable contributing to the fact that Hong has amazing gifts as a composer. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp

"

Early Vocal Music at its Best

S. E. Vogiatzis | Athens, Greece | 05/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Trio Mediaeval can easily claim the title of the best early music female group worldwide.

This is simply great and moving music and while there is a prevailing sense of somber piety throughout, there is enough variety in each selection to keep the listener thoroughly engaged. Trio Mediaeval's deeply expressive singing and virtuoso technique are up to the highest standards and you have to consider that some of the pieces make rather pressing demands on the Scandinavian singers.

ECM proved once more that, even in early music works (if not particuraly in this genre), provides unprecedented quality of performance in every sense.

"

Superb Singing

doggedstrength | 05/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Trio Mediaeval makes glorious, soul-stirring music and this recording majestically brings their unique sound home: you'll feel their voices reaching inside you."

Ethereal

Imperious Fig | cylon battlestar | 02/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Stella Maris

The music on this disc is just hauntingly beautiful. It makes me feel as if I am in a different mystical place....it has ethereal beauty."

Modern "Medieval" Music

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 02/16/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The three singers of Trio Mediaeval are completely frank in acknowledging that the repertoire of 12/13th C music recorded on this CD was never sung, and probably never even heard, by women of the Medieval world. The motets and conductuses performed here come from English and French sources that link them quite specifically to monasteries and cathedrals where only men could have sung them, i.e. Notre Dame de Paris and Bury St. Edmonds in England. Despite that huge caveat, nevertheless, Trio Mediaeval sings with absolute commitment to historical insight into performance practices. One might declare that, if women has sung "Beata viscera", for instance, they would have tried to sing it just like this ... and if they had the talent, just as well! As the CD notes declare: "all modern performances create a modern sound world, after all."

And they do sing very, very well, these three women! To my ears, they are far more skilled and more affective than their better-known competitors, 'Anonymous 4'. They've studied and worked with Paul Hillier, and they've honed their vocal technique by singing together for many years now. Their ensemble is impeccable, and each voice of the trio is a voice one could listen to for eternity, if eternity were open to mortals. The seven tracks of bona fide Medieval polyphony are well chosen NOT to sound all the same, to flow from serenity to ecstasy.

But authentic early polyphony occupies only half of this CD. The second half is a mass -- Missa Lumen di Lumine -- written for the Trio Mediaeval in 2002 by a Korean woman composer Songgji Hong. Like works by contemporary Baltic composers such as Arvo Pärt, it is inspired by medieval aesthetics and affect, but it's not medieval in music theory. It's not modal, nor based on a trope of plainchant, and it freely employs chromatics and outright dissonances that would have stupified a 13th C composer. There are nuances and graces in it that sound like pre-modern Japanese/Korean music, and there are a few moments that suggest an acquaintance with the music of the Celtic and Scandinavian folk traditions. But the chief thing is that it's really quite a good piece of music, potent both as pure aesthetic invention and as an emotional, 'spiritual' exploration of sound.

If I hadn't already declared a "Must Buy CD" for February 2010 (The Medici Codex - Ring Ensemble), this would be my choice. ;-)"

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