How I became a great fan of Anne sofie von Otter

How I became a great fan of Anne Sofie von Otter I worked in Arlington near Washington D.C. as a visiting professor. The evenings were long and I had few friends there. Once in a week I went to a performance in the Kennedy Center and once in a week I self organized a home concerto with music from youtube. I reserved one evening for Schubert Lieder. Therefore I heard her version of Erlkönig, which gripped me as never a piece of music before. I had to hear more of her and I am fascinated by her capability to bring new, unexpected and striking elements to the interpretation of classical music. I am writing a book for a larger audience, which is very difficult, when one has written only for colleagues and students before. Whenever I got frustrated with the writing I turned on her versions of pop music. That helped me a lot and the manuscript is ready. I am an economist. Here is a citation, which economists like to quote: “There is no such thing as a free lunch”. How wrong this is. The most important things are for free.

09/11/15 by Jean Bernard