Saturday, December 10, 2005

Trio Medieval in Kansas City

Last weekend I heard the early-music group Trio Medieval performing at the downtown Catholic cathedral here in Kansas City. They have formed just in time to fill the vacuum left by the retirement of Anonymous 4, and if anything they are even more precise in their singing. I cannot recall ever hearing more perfectly-sung unisons in my life—their three voices fused into a single, intensely-focused timbre. Their intonation and blend were astonishing. Singing a repertoire of medieval and "medieval-sounding" works (mostly on texts about Christmas), they offered an immensely satisfying and inspiring concert.

One non-musical observation: in their promotional photographs and on their cd covers they are depicted as glamorous and statuesque Nordic sirens. In person they are not, though having said that, I found them more appealing in person than their media-crafted image. They are much funkier in appearance and not one of them wore any makeup (unlike every photo I've ever seen of them), and they were much shorter than I expected them to be. I guess cd covers, like television, make you look taller than you actually are...

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