Anne Sofie von Otter / Bengt Forsberg A SIMPLE SONG

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.

Anne Sofie von Otter / Bengt Forsberg JOHANNES BRAHMS Lieder

There have been recordings where I've had terrible colds and gone ahead anyway - you have to. But I still wouldn't want to redo them because once it's done I don't want to look back. And being me, I quickly look forward to getting my teeth into the next project! After so much time spent on preparation, rehearsal, getting my creative mind round the specific repertoire, I truly don't feel the desire to go back. When I did my Brahms Lieder recording in the early 1990s, I had a nasty cold and you can hear a sort of nasal twang. I was also coughing the whole time which is extremely bad for the voice. It was hard and we had to do many retakes because of it. But again, once it's done it's done. I don't quite understand why one would want to re-record an already familiar work when there is so much wonderful music left to sing. There have been rare occasions where the mood has been tense which is not good for recording, but you just have to get through it unfortunately. "I let the music speak" would be my inner mantra on such an occasion. (Anne Sofie von Otter / BBC music)