CD Von Otter, Anne Sofie - I Let The Music Speak

The Swedish mezzo-soprano sings her favorites from ABBA's Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus. It includes ABBA-hits, tracks from CHESS, KRISTINA FRAN DUVEMALA and MAMMA MIA plus unknown compositions by the ABBA creators.

• 1. The Day Before You Came
  Arr.: Fleshquartet
  Georg Wadenius, guitars · Fleshquartet, strings & percussion
  
  
• 2. I Let The Music Speak
  Arr.: Anders Eljas & Georg Wadenius
  Georg Wadenius, guitar · Fredrik Jonsson, acoustic bass · Magnus Persson, drums
  & percussion · Jörgen Stenberg, vibraphone · Mikael Augustsson, accordion
  David Björkman, violin · Roland Kress, violin · Jakob Ruthberg, viola
  Anna Wallgren, cello · Magnus Lindgren, flute
  
  
• 3. When All Is Said And Done
  Georg Wadenius, guitar · Fredrik Jonsson, acoustic bass · Magnus Persson, drums
  Jörgen Stenberg, vibraphone · Lars Englund, Dobro® guitar · Calle Moraeus, violin
  
  
• 4. I Walk With You, Mama
  Arr.: Benny Andersson & Svante Henryson
  Benny Andersson, piano · Svante Henryson, acoustic bass
  
  
• 5. The Winner Takes It All
  Arr.: Anders Eljas & Georg Wadenius
  Georg Wadenius, guitars & electric piano · Fredrik Jonsson, acoustic bass
  Magnus Persson, drums · Jörgen Stenberg, vibraphone · David Björkman, violin
  Roland Kress, violin · Jakob Ruthberg, viola · Anna Wallgren, cello
  
  
• 6. Butterfly Wings
  Arr.: Anders Eljas
  Anders Eljas, piano · Georg Wadenius, guitars · Fredrik Jonsson, acoustic bass
  Magnus Persson, percussion · Anna Wallgren, cello
  
  
• 7. Heaven Help My Heart (from the musical “Chess”)
  Arr.: Anders Eljas & Georg Wadenius
  Anders Eljas, piano · Georg Wadenius, guitar · Fredrik Jonsson, acoustic bass
  Magnus Persson, percussion · Jörgen Stenberg, vibraphone · David Björkman, violin
  Roland Kress, violin · Jakob Ruthberg, viola · Anna Wallgren, cello
  Magnus Lindgren, bass clarinet
  
  
• 8. Ljusa kvällar om varen
  Arr.: Anders Eljas & Georg Wadenius
  Anders Eljas, piano · Georg Wadenius, guitar & scat vocals
  Fredrik Jonsson, acoustic bass · Magnus Persson, drums · Jörgen Stenberg, percussion
  Stig Anderson (1931–1997) / Björn Ulvaeus / Benny Andersson
  
  
• 9. I Am Just A Girl
  Arr.: Georg Wadenius
  Georg Wadenius, guitar · Fredrik Jonsson, acoustic bass
  Magnus Persson, drums & percussion · Lasse Englund, Dobro® guitar
  Calle Moraeus, banjo · Karl Jakobsson, tuba · Pär Grebacken, clarinet
  Björn Ulvaeus / Benny Andersson
  
  
• 10. Ut Mot Ett Hav (from the musical “Kristina”)
  Arr.: Georg Wadenius
  Georg Wadenius, guitars, keyboards & drum programming
  Fredrik Jonsson, electric bass · Magnus Persson, drums & percussion
  Jörgen Stenberg, vibraphone & marimba · Magnus Lindgren, soprano saxophone
  
  
• 11. After The Rain
  Arr.: Benny Andersson
  Benny Andersson, piano
  

Label-Information:
Anne Sofie von Otter’s present album was born from her passion for the music of Benny Andersson – a long-standing admiration that dates back more than two decades. Von Otter had just been engaged by the Basle Opera in the early 1980s when she bought ABBA’s album The Visitors, and her devotion to Andersson’s music took full hold with Kristina från Duvemåla, a musical she went to see again and again.

When it comes to paying tribute to a composer as prolific and as multi-talented as Andersson, however, it takes more than just passion; it also takes a careful selection process. For more than 40 years, Benny Andersson has been composing music in a wide variety of genres: film, folk music, musicals, and of course ABBA’s unbeatable pop hits. We find six of those here, from the up-beat “I Am Just A Girl” (originally written for Jarl Kulle, before the group had taken the name ABBA), the title track “I Let The Music Speak” and “The
Winner Takes It All” to the last tune before the group split, “The Day Before You Came.” She has also chosen to perform emotional ballads from the Anders­son/Ulvaeus musicals Chess (1984) and Kristina från Duvemåla (1995), including “Ut Mot” and “Heaven Help My Heart.”

“Some of the tunes are extremely gripping”, says von Otter of the diverse repertoire. “They go straight to your heart, and it’s completely incredible.” The album’s folk, jazz, pop, and classical arrangements are performed by Scandinavia’s finest jazz and folk musicians, and von Otter is proud to have worked with them to offer music from her native Sweden written by one of her favourite composers: “Very few composers that I know touch me in the way that Benny Andersson’s music touches me, over and over again. That’s a great gift he has.”

After a career devoted almost exclusively to classical music, von Otter explains how her criteria for recorded repertoire lies in her emotional response to each composition: “I sing things that I like and that touch me in some way – be it Mozart or Bach or Handel or Monteverdi or Benny Andersson – as long as it means something to me . . . I always wanted to sing sort of instrumentally, and that works well, I hope, for some of these songs. But the main reason is because I think this music is fantastic. I love it.”

With this recording, fans will discover not only the hidden musical love of one of today’s foremost mezzo sopranos, but also the full range of Andersson’s compositional styles as the outward expression for his many tastes and talents. “But these days,” he confesses, “I listen almost exclusively to classical music.” It’s no wonder, then, that Benny and Anne Sofie have finally found each other.