Customer Reviews

Anne Sofie von Otter - The Artist's Album

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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").

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!

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.

I have to disagree with the other brief review. Anne Sophie von Otter is one of the great artists of our time and this CD is a fabulous collection of her work. The Mahler, Brahms, Faure, and Korngold selections are beautifully rendered. The live recording of the Cenerentola aria is unbelievably vibrant and virtuostic. This has quickly become one of the most valued CD's in my collection and I do not hesitate to recommend it to anyone who enjoys beautiful, musical, intelligent singing.

I am rating this CD that high not because it really deserves 5 stars but simply to counterbalance the low rating given by an anonymous reviewer below (his is not a review, but a judgement with no substance). Anne Sofie von Otter's "Artist's Album" is not for those who already have most of her recordings, since only 2 tracks on this CD are new (Kurt Weill's "Berlin im Licht" and a Rossinian "rarity" from von Otter, "Nacqui all'affanno", recorded live in 1986). These two tracks may be, however, interesting to her most devoted fans. I do not know if other CDs in the Deutsche Grammophone series "Artist's Album" similarly consist of previously released tracks, but it is probably not music itself but artists' pictures that are supposed to attract fans. If you care for pictures, then never mind the music, which you probably already have in separate releases. The selection of photographs is not really so generous, but interesting. There is an essay by a Swedish journalist and a short interview with von Otter's accompanist and friend Bengt Forsberg ("Everything you always wanted to know about Anne Sofie von Otter"), both translated into French and German. The remaining 28 (of 56) pages of the booklet are filled with texts of sung works, here only with English translations. It is an inexcusable waste! First of all, do we need texts in such a sampler-type release? If so, why haven't they been more economically compressed and the remaining space devoted to more pictures or more information on the artist? Some pictures have been published before, mostly in booklets accompanying von Otter's CDs, but still many of them, especially from the artist's family archive, are new. And, considering Anne Sofie von Otter's reticence (which I value a lot), there is just a right amount of them. I do not like samplers and this CD certainly is a sampler containing selections from almost all her Deutsche Grammophone discs. If we had been told, that these are the artist's favorite tracks, this sampler would be of much more value. But we do not know who stands behind this selection and that is why - apart from its picture album part - it is a flawed release. Of course, there are always music fans who need this kind of survey that helps them get started, but in most cases such samplers are mid or budget-price discs. And this one is a full price release! Is this price justified by the booklet? It's not to me to judge this problem, but if the booklet was intended as the main attraction, it should have been more generously filled if not with pictures, then at least with press reviews and clippings etc. The thickness of the album is quite misleading since almost 50% of the book contains sometimes half empty pages with texts. To sum up: a good starter for anybody wanting a guide through Anne Sofie's Deutsche Grammophone (exclusively!) releases and for her die-hard fans worth the full price for the photographs and two new tracks. But, if I may say so, she is always WORTH the full price! What a wonderful and intelligent singer!

The anonymous review is really a non-review. In fact, one wonders if it should even be posted --- seems a bit thin on content. In any event, I find this collection a brilliant sampling of this fine singer's work. What I particularly enjoyed was the sampling of Korngold --- this is a little known composer that really deserves more attention. von Otter's voice brings a deep richness and soul to the Korngold pieces. Furthermore, she has such a versatility in her colour --- from light, scurrying passages to deep, moody textures. Absolutely wonderful!

Another interesting note is the CD packaging. It really is informative for those who want to better acquaint themselves with the "rare Diva". A real triumph.

Superior quality recording! Gorgeous vocal production and sound. Terrific choice of material. Top of the line recording.

Anne Sofie Von Otter's mezzo voice is amazing!! Her selections of Handel's Ariodante and Rossini's La Cenerentola were amazing!! This CD is amazing and if you're a huge fan of Von Otter, you should get this CD!!

This recording is sublime!!! This is a compilation of Anne Sofie von Otter's favorite pieces. She chose such diverse and lovely music. Her diction is incredible. Her expressive voice moved me to tears in "A dio Roma," by Monteverdi. Her Handelian arias were also wonderful. My favorites from this CD are: all of the German lieder pieces, "A dio Roma" (Monteverdi), "Un sapin isole' se dresse" (Lahore), "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" (Weill), "In quali eccessi...Mi tradi" (Mozart), and "Non piu mesta" (Rossini). She is such an amazing Lyric Mezzo soprano. I love her so much. I also reccomend the Mass in C minor with Anne Sofie von Otter and Kiri te Kanawa, Cosi fan tutte with Renee Fleming (Mozart), and Ariodante (Handel). I strongly advise anyone to purchase this recording!!!

Some of the songs are a little too obscure for me, but I like her singing. However, I like Renee Fleming's singing better.