Anne Sofie Von Otter And Elvis Costello - Brief Article

Interview, May, 2001 by Dimitri Ehrlich

For The Stars

(Universal Classics/Deutsche Grammophon)

Most reasonable people count Elvis Costello among rock's most genius singer-songwriters, but who's on his pedestal? Turns out, mezzo-soprano von Otter, the featured vocalist on his newest project. The album takes Costello further into the sophisticated world he first delved into with the Brodsky Quartet, and it is understandable that in middle age this artist who was once new wave's most articulate angry young man has traded in his leather tie--musically speaking--for some more elegant evening wear. But while these ultra-refined covers of songs by Costello, the Beach Boys and Tom Waits are languid and lovely, one yearns for a bit of the spunk and salty rage that informed his earlier work.