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A Simple Song
Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Sharon Bezaly (flute), Fabian Fredriksson (electric guitar), Margareta Nilsson (harp), Bengt Forsberg (organ), Nils-Erik Sparf (violin), Marie McLeod (cello), Ellen Nisbeth (viola)
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, December 2018
Von Otter’s generous personality is reflected in the way she puts over every item, with care for text and a honeyed sweetness of tone…Admirers of the singer will certainly want it; and, if you’re...
A Simple Song
Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Sharon Bezaly (flute), Fabian Fredriksson (electric guitar), Margareta Nilsson (harp), Bengt Forsberg (organ), Nils-Erik Sparf (violin), Marie McLeod (cello), Ellen Nisbeth (viola)
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Awards:
-
Presto Editor's Choice, December 2018
Von Otter’s generous personality is reflected in the way she puts over every item, with care for text and a honeyed sweetness of tone…Admirers of the singer will certainly want it; and, if you’re...
About
A brief glance at the list of contents is enough to reveal who the singer is – only Anne Sofie von Otter could have come up with a programme as varied and wide-ranging. And only von Otter could hold it together seamlessly by finding the resonances between these very different pieces, and bringing them out with a rare ability of embracing different singing styles and expressive registers: to paraphrase Bernstein in his A Simple Song, Anne Sofie von Otter never fails to ‘sing like she likes to sing’. From Liszt to Pärt and from Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony to Richard Rodgers’ Sound of Music, von Otter is supported by her long-time accompanist Bengt Forsberg, here at the organ instead of his usual piano. At various points in the programme they are joined by a number of musical friends, in the organ loft of St James’s Church in central Stockholm – the very church where the young von Otter began her singing career as a chorister and, together with Forsberg, gave one of her very first public concerts.
Contents and tracklist
- Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Sharon Bezaly (flute), Fabian Fredriksson (electric guitar), Margareta Nilsson (harp), Bengt Forsberg (organ)
- Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Nils-Erik Sparf (violin), Margareta Nilsson (harp), Bengt Forsberg (organ)
- Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Marie McLeod (cello), Bengt Forsberg (organ)
- Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Bengt Forsberg (organ)
- Recorded: December 2016
- Recording Venue: S:t Jacobs kyrka, Stockholm, Sweden
- Anne Sofie von Otter (mezzo-soprano), Nils-Erik Sparf (violin), Ellen Nisbeth (viola)
Spotlight on this release
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Awards and reviews
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Presto Editor's ChoiceDecember 2018
March 2019
Von Otter’s generous personality is reflected in the way she puts over every item, with care for text and a honeyed sweetness of tone…Admirers of the singer will certainly want it; and, if you’re not such a fan but you’re intrigued by this summary of its contents, so might you…
February 2019
‘A Simple Song’ turns out to be a thoughtful, even challenging recital, given extra colour by the fact that Forsberg [von Otter’s] longtime song partner, here swaps his piano for the organ of the Stockholm church where the young von Otter started singing as a teen…This is a delightful, surprising and thought-provoking programme – difficult to classify, perhaps, but very easy to enjoy.
December 2018
It’s not every day you see Messiaen sitting cheek-by-jowl with Rodgers & Hammerstein, but this rather eccentric programme works its own special magic thanks to the Swedish mezzo’s open-hearted and unfussy delivery (only Pärt’s soporific seven-minute setting of ‘My heart’s in the Highlands’ outstays its welcome); the Ives and Messiaen songs are particularly spellbinding, and the two movements from Mahler symphonies translate to the organ surprisingly well.
