CDs & music releases

Susanne Ortner Trio - Last Stop SehnSucht

The German word Sehnsucht has always been a term I could deeply identify with. It best translates into English as yearning, longing, or desire, but none of these words fully does it justice. The Portuguese saudade comes much closer. Sehnsucht is a complex concept. It represents thoughts and feelings about all facets of life that are unfinished or imperfect, paired with a yearning for ideal and alternative experiences. It has been referred to as “life’s longings” – and is ultimately the longing for deep connection and belonging, the feeling of being truly “at home.”

Sehnsucht led me to leave my country of origin, Germany, in 2006. It was the driving force in immersing myself in the music of different countries and cultures. I have always tried to find the mutual in the different – in music, and in life in general. Sehnsucht led me to New Orleans – a place I now proudly call home. But the “last stop” will always be Sehnsucht itself – the inner state of most artists.

This recording offers a musical exploration of Sehnsucht – in the choices of tunes, as well as in their interpretation. The repertoire mostly stems from the early 20th Century. In this album you'll find a heavy dose of Brazilian choro – my most recent musical infatuation, often referred to as the “New Orleans Jazz of Brazil”. The traditions that nurtured choro in Rio in the late 1800s are pretty much the same ones that brought about the danzón in Cuba, the beguine in Martinique, and ragtime in the United States. Countries were developing their own popular musics and began to mix in elements from other cultures including European polka and African rhythms.

Take Jelly Roll Morton, for example, who cleverly wove the “Spanish Tinge” into some of his piano rags, like Mamanita. And yet again from the same time period stems Carmencita, a Venezuelan waltz by Lionel Belasco, who is sometimes referred to as the “Scott Joplin of Calypso.” Other tunes that we explore are the haunting Chant In the Night by Sidney Bechet, and other New Orleans standards that play with the concept of home, rest, belonging. My own composition, Waltz For The Road Less Traveled, was written in memory of Klaus Post, one of my best friends, and my former professor, who knew about my yearning and nurtured me as an artist.

I feel very lucky to have two outstanding musicians and creators join me on this endeavor for musical connection: the ever-surprising, stunningly creative and highly-sensitive Nahum Zdybel on guitar, and the iconic New Orleans bassist, James Singleton, a world-class musician who puts all of himself into every performance.

I hope this recording will leave you delighted, and yet “yearning” for more!
- Susanne Ortner, 2019

CD: $17.50 + $2.50 shipping (USA only)

Susanne Ortner - Die Musik aus der Weihnachtsgeschichte

Die Augsburger Puppenkiste hat "Die Weihnachtsgeschichte" nach dem Lukas- und Matthäus-Evangelium erstmals im Advent 2014 aufgeführt. Seitdem gehört das Stück zum festen Bühnenrepertoire. Eine knapp einstündige Kino-Adaption wurde diesen Sommer mit hohem technischen Aufwand realisiert. Sie wird an den vier Adventssonntagen 2016 bundesweit zu sehen sein. Für die Geschichte, in der singende Tiere, ein König Melchior mit österreichischem Akzent und ein Jiddisch sprechender Erzengel Gabriel auftreten, wurden eigens 23 neue Marionetten gefertigt. Den Soundtrack dazu komponierte Susanne Ortner. Sie hat sich in den vergangenen Jahren durch ihr ausdrucksstarkes Klarinetten- und Saxofonspiel solistisch sowie mit Jazz- und Klezmer-Formationen einen internationalen Namen gemacht. Die CD "Die Weihnachtsgeschichte" basiert auf Ortners Soundtrack. Sie wurde in den USA mit professionellen Musikern aufgenommen und enthält über die außergewöhnliche Musik des Stücks hinaus noch weitere weihnachtliche Titel, zum Beispiel "Stille Nacht" mit neuem Text. Die Lieder werden von den Schauspielern des Stücks, den Augsburger Domsingknaben, Gerd Meyer als Esel Noel sowie der Münchner Sopranistin Gabriele Steck gesungen.

CD: $15 + $2.50 shipping (USA only)

Ortner-Roberts Duo - Hot World Chamber Music

The temperature outside is probably in the mid-80s, and Pittsburghers may be speculating whether the effects of global warming have come home to roost. If so, what would be the ideal music for a hotter world? Perhaps something with snippets of spicy flair from around the globe with deep emotion, yet minimal instrumentation to reduce the carbon footprint. The accomplished local duo of clarinetist Susanne Ortner-Roberts and pianist Tom Roberts fill that bill (yes, they're a married couple) and their new second CD is conveniently titled "Hot World Chamber Music." In fact, "chamber music" is one of few terms that accurately encompasses the variety of styles the pair brings to the table -- jazz, Latin, calypso, gypsy, gospel, tango, and even French musettes and Greek rembetika -- in a change from past efforts mainly fusing klezmer with ragtime-era jazz.
- Pittsburgh Post Gazette (full review)

CD: $15 + $2.50 shipping (USA only)

Ortner-Roberts Duo - A trip to america (a yiddish Creole Fusion)

"... a delightful mix of Yiddish and Jazz from the early '20s and '30s. Susanne Ortner-Roberts' clarinet is masterful, playful; Tom Roberts stride piano a real treat.... The abundance of Bechet and Brandwein, with nice dollops of ragtime, rembetica ("I plighés") and New Orleans jazz support the proposition of intermixing and fusion, too. It's a proposition first advanced (in my hearing) by the klezmer-revival band, The Klezmorim, but seldom prosecuted this well. In many ways, this CD makes for a "Jewish" bookend to the lovely Harlem Experiment released last fall." - Ari Davidow, klezmershack, 2008 (full review)