Diversity and discovery are the hallmarks of this remarkable collaboration: the celebrated Swedish mezzo-soprano has chosen to make her first recording under an exclusive contract with Naive with leading jazz pianist/composer Brad Mehldau. The specially-priced 2-CD set features Love Songs, a seven-part cycle by Mehldau himself, and collects together some of the best songwriters of our time, including Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rodgers and Lennon & McCartney.
The pair's meeting at Carnegie Hall in 2009 gave rise to a cycle of Seven Love Songs, settings by Brad Mehldau of poems by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933), as well as a selection of French, American, English and Swedish songs they have performed together with great success internationally, before recording them for Naive in Stockholm this spring.
They have brought together some of the greatest songwriters, including Jacques Brel, Leo Ferre, Michel Legrand, Leonard Bernstein, Paul McCartney, and Joni Michell. "Powerful, literary, poetic and rich in emotion, they wrote music that has you in tears," says Brad Mehldau. "She [Anne Sofie] expresses tenderness without sentimentality; she knows how to be expressive without ever overdoing it. She has great understanding, more than anyone else, of the text, whether it is in English, French, German, or any other language."
It is no secret that Anne Sofie von Otter enjoys recording and combining different genres, as her rich discography shows: her very successful discs devoted to Abba or with Elvis Costello exist side by side with her famous recordings of Classical or Baroque music. Brad Mehldau too likes seeking and discovering, in improvisation but also in songs, pop, or in the classical repertoire.
Disc 1
Brad Mehldau - Love Songs
1. It May Not Always Be So
2. We Met At The End Of The Party
3. Child, Child
4. Twilight
5. Because
6. Dreams
7. Did You Never Know?
Disc 2:
1. Avec Le Temps (Leo Ferre)
2. Pierre (Barbara)
3. Marcie (Joni Mitchell)
4. Something Good (Richard Rodgers)
5. Chanson De Maxence from 'Les Demoiselles de Rochefort' (Michel Legrand)
6. Chanson Des Vieux Amants (Jacques Brel)
7. Sakta Vi Ga Genom Stan (Walking My Baby Back Home) (Fred Ahlert)
8. Att Angora En Brygga (Lars Farnlof)
9. Dis, Quand Reviendras-Tu? (Barbara)
10. What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life? (Michel Legrand)
11. Calling You from 'Bagdad Cafe' (Bob Telson)
12. Blackbird (Lennon & McCartney)
13. Some Other Time from 'On the Town' (Leonard Bernstein)