“Anne Sofie von Otter is the grande dame among the singers of historical performance practice, and she knows exactly why she’s performing her recital of Mozart, Schubert, Lindblad and Berwald with this fortepiano. Because von Otter does not want to overpower or offer drama, she lets her voice float as light as a feather through the songs, she strokes the cantilenas, she sounds the high in the low, she coaxes the depth.”

“von Otter tore with beguiling ease through the rapid passagework of ​‘Iris hence away’ from Semele.”

“’A Simple Song’ turns out to be a thoughtful, even challenging recital…all the instrumentalists involved match the intelligence and thoughtfulness of von Otter’s singing. This is a delightful, surprising and thought-provoking programme”

“von Otter is spectacular, capturing the nuance of her character’s complexities”

“Anne Sofie von Otter’s alluring Old Lady was further luxury casting”

“The entire cast is superlative. Anne Sofie von Otter is formidable as Madame de Croissy, whose unjustly painful death is staged as a muted crucifixion.”

“I’m sure [Sibelius] would have loved Anne Sofie von Otter’s singing, with its unique mixture of warm and cold tone and its searching musicality.”

“Here is another addition to the flood of high-calibre Sibelius recordings prompted by the composer’s 150^th anniversary… Aulis Sallinen picked eight of Sibelius’s songs and reworked the piano parts for orchestra. The voice he had in mind was Anne Sofie von Otter’s and she sings them beautifully here. Sallinen strikes a skilful balance between a dark, typically Sibelian soundworld and something supportive of von Otter’s mezzo-soprano, with its easy poise and natural flow”

“Anne Sofie von Otter creates the role of Charlotte, the mother, in a characterisation that relies as much on the Swedish mezzo-soprano’s own star aura as on her remarkably versatile voice.” *****

“Anne Sofie von Otter made a moving, repressed Countess Geschwitz, singing with considerable heft as well as her trademark class.”

“Anne Sofie von Otter brings bags of character to the ailing Leonora”

“The best thing about this eclectic recital is Anne Sofie von Otter’s handsomely rich voice…Highlights include Shaw’s ​“Cant voi l’aube”, setting a 12^th century French love poem to music of rare beauty and delicacy. Otter’s delivery is superb, reaching feverish heights in the final verse…Von Otter’s immaculate French is heard to advantage in the closing aria from Rufus Wainwright’s opera Prima Donna, and there’s a beguiling extract from John Adams’ Doctor Atomic. Best among the cover versions in a sultry version of ​“Love Sublime” by Brad Mehldau.”

“Anne Sofie von Otter stood out for her portrayal of Leonora, a tragic, desperate patient of the Doctor”

“The singers were more than fine; stand outs included Anne Sofie von Otter as a nuanced Leonora”

“the male trio fawn over von Otter who dazzles every second, with every prominent gesture, as the central figure for the evening. From barmaid to glamorous vamp, from Dowland to Elvis Costello and everything in between, she slips into the various roles and falls right back out of them again with ease”

“Anne Sofie von Otter’s Jenny…[is] a classy number as one would expect from this imaginative performer.”

“Anne Sofie von Otter is not the overripe contralto battleaxe one might usually cast as Leokadja Begbick but, resplendent in a platinum-blonde, hot-pink-dip-dyed wig, she gave a memorable performance on her own terms, singing with point and delivering her spoken lines in a tone-perfect Estuary accent.”

“von Otter has a beautiful voice and, as the evil widow Begbick, joyously attacks her lines with bitingly vicious phrasing”