Marianne 2023

Marian Sullivan, born in Queens, New York, is an authentic jazz singer who loves Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McLaughlin.This is an album that was recorded in Turin with the Massimo Pharaoh Trio during the Italian tour.

It is an adventure to immerse oneself in the Norwegian treasury of song. There is so much magnificent music, and so much of it bears witness to the time in which it was written. It tells which poets were setting the tone, how strong were the influences from European musical life, or whether the composer looked more to what Norwegian traditional music had to offer.

Originally released in 2002, Kissin Time is a collection of co-written collaborations with an impressive lineup of contemporary musicians and producers such as Beck, Billy Corgan, Dave Stewart, Blur and Pulp. The reissued CD format includes a selection of previously unreleased bonus material of alt mixes and demos and features new liner notes.

It is an adventure to immerse oneself in the Norwegian treasury of song. There is so much magnificent music, and so much of it bears witness to the time in which it was written. Sigurd Lie was one of the eminent and gifted composers at the end of the nineteenth century. His body of work includes instrumental music and music for male choir and, above all, around 75 songs seldom performed after his death. The song texts were written by Norwegian poets, among them Vilhelm Krag, Sigbjørn Obstfelder and Per Sivle. This is the first of two releases in which Kielland and Mortensen illuminate all the songs and let them shine.

The songs on this release – volume 2 – continue the chronological list from volume 1.The album begins with the remarkably special cycle Wartburg, encompassing an enormous range of singing pathos. The text by Theodor Caspari has to do with Wartburg Castle, with its sweeping history. Martin Luther sought refuge there from May 1521 to March 1522. Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia resided there from 1211 to 1228, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the castle several times, and, notably, the famous "minstrel contest" at the castle was an inspiration for Wagner when he composed his opera Tannhauser. So it is not so unusual that Theodor Caspari was also inspired by the castle's history and reputation when he wrote his Wartburg texts.