Nason | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

Norwegian singer songwriter SUSANNA continues to explore her fascination with the poetry and persona of Charles Baudelaire, with a new album that scales up her distinctive settings of the French poet/bohemian’s classic texts to the size of an orchestra. On Baudelaire & Orchestra, Susanna is joined by Oslo’s incredible, forward thinking KORK orchestra. The radio orchestra of NRK (Norway’s national broadcaster) is known for its progressive approach, diversity and willingness to tackle challenging and contemporary music of all types.

The music was arranged by Jarle G. Storløkken, with contributions from innovative composer Jan Martin Smørdal –who was awarded the Nordheim Prize in 2022. Christian Eggen – one of Norway’s top conductors – leads the orchestra, while it was produced and mastered by Deathprod.

Susanna’s intense relationship with the poetry of the French symbolist has so far led to two albums and an EP, and a string of rapturously received concerts. It all started with Baudelaire and Piano (2020), an intimate set of 10 songs with just Susanna alone at her piano. Last year came Elevation, featuring 11 more Baudelaire jewels. The material blossomed into a collaborative enterprise with Stina Stjern and Delphine Dora, combining tape, spoken word and song. Like Baudelaire, Susanna’s music probes the edges of desire, and confronts the simultaneous wonder and meaningless of existence.

Baudelaire is often considered one of the first modern poets, whose urban observations frequently dipped into fantasy, sensuality, fevered imaginings and eerie horror. Susanna’s selection of texts from his masterwork The Flowers of Evil (translated by Anthony Mortimer) covers the full spectrum of Baudelaire’s conflicted expression.

Based in Oslo, the Norwegian artist and singer/songwriter formed her duo Susanna and the Magical Orchestra in 2000 for exquisite, minimalistic interpretations of pop songs, both mainstream and leftfield. Since 2007 her songwriting has travelled in multiple directions, from her Meshes of Voice project with transgressive singer Jenny Hval, to settings of Norwegian poet Gunvor Hofmo, and the collaboration with new music group Ensemble neoN on The Forester (2013). Go Dig My Grave (2018) was called ‘a wondrous, haunting bunch of covers’ (Uncut). 2019’s Garden of Earthly Delights was praised as ‘intriguing’, ‘brilliant and compelling’ and ‘heavy stuff’ in the international press and was nominated for a Norwegian Grammy award (Spellemannprisen) in the Open category. She is a three-times winner of Norwegian Grammys for previous releases. Superfan Bonnie Prince Billy’s recent Wolf of the Cosmos release was a cover of the whole of her 2007 album Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos.