Anne Sofie von Otter's range: Bartok to ABBA
Anne Sofie von Otter did not easily take to "Bluebeard's Castle," the brooding one-act opera by Bartok that she sings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra tonight at Symphony Hall and tomorrow at New York's Carnegie Hall. Little by little, though, she was drawn into its sinister atmosphere, just as Judith, her character, finds herself drawn into Bluebeard's shadowy palace.
"When I first heard it I found it sort of hard," says the Swedish mezzo-soprano from her hotel room, soon after arriving in Boston. "But then I listened again and again, and slowly but surely it really started growing on me. I was really taken by it, more and more so each time I sing it."
By now the piece, which exists near the margins of the core operatic canon, has become firmly established in her repertoire, though she's never sung a staged version. She has made an excellent recording with Bernard Haitink and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and this past March she was in New York for concert performances with the Philharmonic under Christoph von Dohnanyi. Those concerts, she says, attained a special intensity.
"It was sort of hypnotic, like we all went into a bubble," von Otter recalls. "And it was amazing how still the audience was. It was in Avery Fisher Hall, where the audience can be a bit restless. But during this they weren't at all because the music is so powerful.
"I do love the piece -- it's got so much atmosphere," she continues, injecting a hint of enthusiasm into her customarily cool voice. "And to stand in the middle of the orchestra is such a treat when you hear all these moody colors around you. It's amazing -- one of a kind."
One of the ingredients that gives "Bluebeard's Castle" its force is Judith's enigmatic character. You never quite know what draws her to Bluebeard, or why she insists on accompanying him into his castle amid many signs of danger. "You don't know her motives or why she went there in the first place," von Otter explains. "Is she afraid of him or does she feel attracted to him? Is it something sexually charged? You just don't know."
To gauge the diversity of von Otter's repertoire, which stretches from Baroque opera to Strauss and Debussy, it helps to remember one of her most recent recordings, "I Let the Music Speak," a collection of songs by Benny Andersson. Yes, that Benny Andersson, the guiding light behind ABBA. (And before you ask, no, "Dancing Queen" isn't on there, but "The Winner Takes it All" is.)
She says that the idea came about when she saw "Kristina From Duvemala," a musical about Swedish emigrants in the 19th century written by Andersson and ABBA cohort Björn Ulvaeus. "The music is so powerful and moving, and it's a wonderful story," she says. "I thought that I would really love to sing these songs. And suddenly I got this idea: Why don't I make a recording of Benny Andersson's music over the years?"
This comes after recording an album with Elvis Costello a few years ago. So when she's asked about venturing into ABBA terrain, von Otter gives a short laugh and responds quietly but firmly.
"I got [that question] in a big way when I did the Costello record: 'Why do you want to record this kind of song? What do you have to say?' Well, it was very easy: I love this music, it moves me, and I don't grow tired of it, and that's why I wanted to do it."
Tonight at 8 at Symphony Hall. 617-266-1200, bso.org
