In addition to strictly liturgical music – often coloured by the later Protestant tradition – the only medieval music to have survived from the Nordic countries is the "cantios", often available in printed format, rather than as manuscripts. These pieces are associated with figures from the Swedish Christian tradition (and therefore Finnish, since Finland was apart of Sweden back then). They are sung in medieval Latin; the first publications appear to date from 1582, even if the music itself is two or three centuries older. In an era when the Nordic countries had just converted to Christianity, in particular just after the time of St Henry in the 1150s – before, the mythological divinities were called Ylijumala (the king of heaven), Akka his wife, Ukko the old man, Pæivæ the sun god, Panu the god of fire, and dozens of others in a jolly pantheon which rather recalled Valhalla, and indeed the pantheons of ancient Greece and Rome, with perhaps a little more in the way of woodland gods. Most of these medieval "cantios" were sung in unison as calls and responses, but also with two, three or four voices, as we hear on this album. Clearly, this album is one for lovers of medieval religious singing, although a few pieces come close to the Renaissance. The Finnish Radio Chamber Choir gives an exemplary rendition of these songs, as do the ensembles Cetus Noster (Latin for "our whale", Greco-Roman mythology, but there you go) and Köyhät ritarit ("lost bread", in Finnish). © SM/Qobuz