A Quantum Of Lunchtime Solace With Trio Mediæval At the Wigmore Hall, 4 July 2022

Picture by Tore Sætre, CC BY-SA 4.0

Blooming heck this was a great lunchtime concert. It is well described on the Wigmore Hall site – click here.

The above picture is somewhat deceptive, as only two members of the Trio are permanent members, the singer in the centre of the picture, wonderful though she might be, is Torunn Østrem Ossum, not Jorunn Lovise Husan.

We have seen the former perform with the Trio – click here for my article on that concert.

The latter is, it seems, a singer who lunches, in that she was also the third singer when we last saw Trio Mediæval do a lunchtime concert at Wigmore Hall, some four years ago:

They are supremely talented singers who fill that hall with a wonderful sound and a charming vibe. They sing with smiles on their faces. They make supremely difficult singing look almost effortless. It really was a joy to see them again.

This concert was based on their latest album, Solacium, which is centred around traditional Norwegian and Estonian-Swedish lullabies and hymns. It includes some modern works by Anders Jormin, Andrew Smith and Marianne Reidarsdatter Eriksen, all of which felt very much in keeping with the early music nature of the programme.

It was a BBC Radio 3 lunchtime concert, so if you are reading this article reasonably fresh (i.e. during July 2022) you can hear the whole concert on BBC Sounds – click here.

Beyond that date, I believe you can watch (and hear) the concert from the Wigmore Hall live library. I’m not sure if you need to be a registrant, a member or if it is just available to all-comers. (We are members). Here is the link to the Wigmore Hall vid, where you can spot the back of my head (and Janie’s) in the front row without too much difficulty.

It’s just a shame there were not more people in the hall to enjoy this wonderful music live.

Aquilonis, Trio Mediæval, Wigmore Hall Lates, 24 July 2015

Trio Mediæval are the Norwegian early music answer to Bananarama. Need I say more?

We’d seen them at the Wigmore Hall before, bought one of their albums and everything.

Now they were back for one of those midsummer Wigmore Lates, to perform Aquilonis: a musical journey from Iceland to the Mediterranean via the coasts of Scandinavia and England.

Click here for the Wigmore Hall Stub for the concert.

They were also to be followed in the bar by live music (unspecified on the site). I have a funny feeling none emerged that evening, although there might have been a combo who played without handing out any notes.

We arranged to go and see the Sonia Delaunay at the Tate Modern earlier – click here for that piece – then eat at the Tate Modern, then leg it back across town.

What could possibly go wrong?

Nothing. That’s the simple answer. The logistics and timings worked perfectly.

The Trio Mediæval concert was delightful. Not as jaw-droppingly wonderful as the “Words of the Angel” concert we saw some years ago; that album – click here – we still listen to a lot. But still delightful.