Anne Sofie von Otter: I Let the Music Speak

The elegant mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter, justly renowned for a career of remarkable breadth and versatility, threw me a curveball with this latest album, a selection of songs from her Swedish compatriots Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. That's right: the lady is an ABBA fan.

But don't expect the wall of sound, girlish pop delivery, or a great musician slumming with the hits, as it were. Yes, there are ABBA tunes (e.g., "The Winner Takes It All") but also ballads from the Andersson-Ulvaeus stage musicals.

This is clearly an intimate project for von Otter. It takes nothing away from the clarity and beauty of her voice, her mature musicianship, to note the obvious emotional investment in each song. Note the accompaniment, simple though not austere, provided by members of Sweden's jazz and folk scene. One contemplates what this group might do in a follow-up album that included, for example, "I Know Him So Well" or "One Man, One Woman."

And in case you should forget what made the world love fall in love with this music all those years ago, von Otter's cover portrait very much recalls ABBA vocalists Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.