Rimur

"The trio sing with their usual combination of precision, imagination and deep care with text and ornamentation. Arve Henriksen's trumpet sounds like a flute, a seabird, a human voice, a distant wind and just occasionally like the breathy trumpet of Scandinavian jazz cliché…if the idea of a semi-distant Nordic cousin to Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble's 'Officium' series appeals, this is worth procuring" (Gramophone)

Over several summers Trio Mediaeval and trumpeter Arve Henriksen spent many days together by the beautiful Dalsfjorden on the Norwegian west coast, and it was there that most of the music for this recording was born. Fascinated and inspired by Icelandic sagas, beautiful chants, folk songs, religious hymns and fiddle tunes, the quartet has arranged a unique set of songs where improvisation, mediaeval and traditional music from Iceland, Norway and Sweden meet the present. Henriksen has often performed with Trio Mediaeval in live settings - and the singers and trumpeter appear on Sinikka Langeland's recent record The Magical Forest - but Rímur is their first extensive collaboration on disc. It was recorded in February 2016 at Munich's Himmelfahrtskirche, and produced by Manfred Eicher.