Anne Sofie von Otter - The Artist's Album

Gustav Mahler (Artist), Johannes Brahms (Artist), Edvard Grieg (Artist), Richard Strauss (Artist), Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Artist), Robert Schumann (Artist), Kurt Weill (Artist), Ture Rangstrom (Artist), Hugo Alfven (Artist), Maurice Delage (Artist), Gabriel Fauré (Artist), Franz Schubert (Artist), George Frideric Handel (Artist), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Artist), Claudio Monteverdi (Artist), Christoph Willibald Gluck (Artist), Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (Artist), Gioachino Rossini (Artist), Hannover North German Radio Orchestra (Artist), Dresden Staatskapelle (Artist), Frankfurt Opera House and Museum Orchestra (Artist), John Eliot Gardiner (Artist), Reinhard Goebel (Artist), Trevor Pinnock (Artist), Marc Minkowski (Artist), James Levine (Artist), Cord Garben (Artist), Ralf Gothoni (Artist), Anne-Sofie von Otter (Artist), Bengt Forsberg (Artist), Pal Christian Moe (Artist), Dr. Peter Czornyj (Artist), Andreas Alin (Artist), Per Billman (Artist), Ulf Bjurenhed (Artist), Ulf Forsberg (Artist), Matti Hirvikangas (Artist), Mats Lidstrom (Artist), Nils-Erik Sparf (Artist), Charlotte Kriesch (Artist), Musica Antiqua Köln (Artist), Melvyn Tan (Artist), English Concert (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 14, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Deutsche Grammophon
• ASIN: B00000613V
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,721 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #14 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Freni, Mirella
  • #16 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Korngold, Erich Wolfgang
  • #19 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Otter, Anne Sophie von

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whoops!, April 1, 2000

By 

Izolda (North Haven, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anne Sofie von Otter - The Artist's Album (Audio CD)

In my review of "The Artist's Album/Anne Sofie von Otter" I said that this CD is a collection of samples from various von Otter's recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, but we do not know who stands behind this selection. It turns out that some copies of this album have a sticker informing that the CD contains Anne Sofie von Otter's favorite tracks. For some music lovers it may be a minor detail, but for the artist's fans it is quite an important information. In this light, "The Artist's Album" is no longer a "sampler", but a carefully made selection of the artist's favorites. I still do not understand why the sticker appears only on certain copies (I made a little research in 3 greatest CD shops in New York) or rather why this piece of information isn't put in a more "permanent" form, as a statement from the artist etc. If you find this problem trivial, please forgive me this note, however, if we are getting "The Artist's Album", we may as well want to know to what extend the artist was involved in selecting fragments of her recordings for this release. If it was a personal choice of Anne Sofie von Otter, I am surprised that there is not a single track from one of her most wonderful discs, Berlioz's "Nuits d'ete" (she also recorded - together with other soloists - a disc with Berlioz's "Melodies"). We remember her as the most moving Marguerite in the recent DG "Damnation of Faust" under Myung-Whun Chung (earlier also under Gardiner for "Philips"), but there is not a trace of Berlioz on the 'Artist's Album" (it may have been too late to include fragments from the Chung disc). If you discover Anne Sofie von Otter through her "Artist's album" and you start collecting her recordings, do not forget about her Berlioz. (Her Dido in Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" with Trevor Pinnock is another great creation omitted in the "Album").

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Of The Best Soprano Compilation CDs Ever, February 14, 2001

By 

Hovig J. Heghinian (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anne Sofie von Otter - The Artist's Album (Audio CD)

This is one of my favorite CDs. I don't usually publicize my opinions, but the one-star review on this page so offended me that I need to raise the average back up to five stars where it belongs. I'm still in shock by the careless mischief of that anonymous criminal.

Beautiful music, beautiful singing, beautiful song selection, beautiful pacakging, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing versatility and unparalleled emotion, February 8, 2004

By 

R. Ley "robertl39" (Aptos, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Anne Sofie von Otter - The Artist's Album (Audio CD)

OK, so I own almost everything she's done. I am particularly fond of songs/lieder and, having listened to a great number of both male and female song singers, I can find no singer in the same universe. The intelligence of her approach, the control of her vocal color and vibrato to match the notes and lyrics, the playfulness with which she approaches the music are without equal.
This is an interesting disc and I didn't buy it until recently since I already had a lot of it and prefer songs to arias. But it was quite a revelation. The Handel and Weill are wonderful. For something completely different, try the Delage "Lahore" Track 12. Eerie and beautiful.
If Track #11, Skogen Sover, doesn't make you cry you have no heart. It may be the most beautiful use of the human voice I've ever heard. Listen carefully to the way she changes vowel sounds in the word 'juninatt' throwing in the 'n' both times so you barely hear it and it doesn't disrupt the vowel color change. At the end, turn up the volume and listen to her fade out with no vibrato until she's barely audible, then add just a touch of vibrato as she finishes with the final 't' of 'juninatt'.
There may be better aria singers, with some voices better for some types of opera. But this woman's incredible versatility is well-reflected here and a delight to listen to. Even a Rossini at the end, gynmastics and all. Has there ever been a singer with a wider repertoire matched with such gorgeous emotion? Now, if we could only get the UK version of this disc, with more and different offerings, here on Amazon USA...
A great intro to this powerful, emotional singer. Take it as a starter and buy the full discs that have the tracks you like best. You'll be captivated and not disappointed.