Sofie Dumont

Ballades and Impromptus. Among the most suggestive of the titles Chopin bestowed on his works, they announce the poetic charge of two very different and contrasting genres. Where the Ballades are expansive and dense, with their dramatic power rooted in epic and legend and their bright or sombre hues, the Impromptus are light and concise, elusive and ephemeral, airy, fragile and volatile in texture, and with delicate touches of colour that spread joy, effervescent or serene, on the fleet wings of their melodies. These two aspects are but one at heart, though, in their essential romanticism, their lyricism and their roots in the fertile soil of improvisation, inseparable from the powerful inspiration that brought them into being.

Born to sing J. S. Bach, Anne Sofie von Otter brings elegant style, richness of voice, and career-long commitment to Baroque music to this glorious recording of alto and soprano arias she herself selected. Featuring beloved staples like the moving “Erbarme Dich” from the St. Matthew Passion and the “Agnus Dei” from the B minor Mass, this follow-up to her successful release of Music for a While includes lesser-known repertoire to entice the most jaded lover of voice, Baroque or Bach. Lars Ulrik Mortensen leads Concerto Copenhagen, the acclaimed Scandinavian Baroque ensemble, in instrumentations of fascinating variety unusual in Bach solo vocal albums

Donna, che in ciel di tanta luce splendi is a full-length cantata and the masterpiece in this recital. The introductory Sinfonia captures attention imperatively with its grandeur and turbulence. Then the succession of recitatives and arias, unfailingly alive with dramatic imagination, provides superb opportunities for the singer, all of which are taken here with well-grounded eagerness.

Following the best-seller 'Love Songs' with Brad Mehldau and a new recording of Berlioz’s 'Les Nuits d’été' with Marc Minkowski, 'Sogno Barocco' is the third project from eclectic Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter on naïve, which she toured 2010-11. Dedicated to early Italian opera protagonists such as Poppea, Penelope, Diana and Helena, this clever programme gathers baroque hit duets such as “Si Dolce è’l tormento” or “Pur ti miro” and the previously unreleased Provenzale cantata or Rossi’s Lamento of the Swedish Queen .

She's not shy, this Anne-Sofie von Otter. Her performances are, to say the least, incredibly expressive. Her Suleika I (D. 720) is Brigitte Bardot in Contempt. Her Im Abendrot (D. 799) is Kim Novak in Vertigo. Her Totengräbers Heimweh is Eli Walach in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Nor is von Otter dumb. Her interpretations are sly, subtle, and very, very sensitive. Her Der Wanderer an den Mond (D. 870) is hearty and lightly but profoundly philosophical.

Serse opens with one of Handel’s most celebrated arias, the Persian King Xerxes’ ode to a plane tree. It provides a serene prelude to an enthralling opera, propelled by power games and amorous intrigue and filled with dazzling vocal virtuosity. Anne Sofie von Otter in the title role leads a superbly balanced cast under the direction of William Christie, a master of baroque style. “Christie masterminds an entertaining performance … This recording captures a theatrical flow and affectionate atmosphere that is deeply satisfying.”

There are now many exponents and interpreters of Weill’s extraordinary output, from his German roots, through his French exile to his American and Broadway successes. The repertoire chosen for this disc reveals the variety and flavour of Weill’s writing. Von Otter’s honeyed tone and her ability to stamp sharply observed characterisations on the songs make this recording highly individual compared to that of Weill’s wife Lotte Lenya or, more recently, Ute Lemper. This is vocalised, rather than angst-ridden cabaret-style Weill, though Von Otter certainly delivers the dramatic intensity.

A finely balanced recording places the voices in ideal relationship with the orchestra which itself is given a well-aired, clean sound (although the Amsterdam sound of 13 years ago for Bernstein is no less truthful). It supports a performance that is predictably – given the BPO/Abbado partnership – shipshape in execution, nothing in Mahler’s highly original scoring overlooked. As is customary with this conductor’s Mahler, the approach tends to be objective and disciplined. In that respect it is at the opposite pole to the concept of Bernstein who, in my favourite version among many available, is more yielding and, to my ears, more idiomatically Mahlerian in mood and in subtlety of rubato, those little lingerings that mean so much in interpreting the composer – yet Bernstein is no slower as a whole.