This was about the third X’mas concert that P has either attended or been part of this year, so she was wondering if she should actually shell out an additional 40 smackers to see famous operatic mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie Von Otter in her Christmas Special (and this was the relatively cheap seats in the gallery). Well, she was glad that she did.

P has been a longtime fan of the honey-toned mezzo and has caught her Octavian from Rosenkavalier at the Royal Opera House sometime in the late ‘90s if she remembers correctly. She was also well aware that Von Otter is one of the few opera singers who perform crossover, cabaret and musicals very well. Her album “For the Stars”" with Elvis Costello really demonstrated her versatility to P. She has also done an Abba album “I let the music speak”, which P considered a bit of a waste of space, but hey, someone must have liked it!

The Esplanade programme was part of an Asian tour for Von Otter and her band and they are scheduled to appear in China, Taiwan and South Korea among other places next. Speaking of her band, the Merry Swedish Gentlemen, they comprise a set of string players, percussionists, woodwind, a pianist and one lone accordionist, ideal for churning out anything from traditional Swedish folksong to cabaret.

The programme appeared to be derived from her several Christmas albums to date, although P was a little frustrated that the exact programme was not made available until the day of the concert.

Basically, the best part of the evening for P was the traditional Swedish folksongs, including the several instrumental numbers, Hjortingen, Klinga Mina Klockor and Vatten Torbjorn Nasbom. Parts of the pieces almost sounded Jewish in their wailing plangency, before segueing into much more mainstream European traditional music. P enjoyed being introduced to the traditional instrument the Nyckelharpa which basically looked like a viola with pedals to push instead of depressing the strings directly.

That being said, P also enjoyed the cabaret pieces like “Boum”, a sassy french song with lots of vocalised sound effects which Von Otter did with gusto. Here’s the original in sing-along video for those of you are so inclined after sufficient eggnog!

For P, Von Otter’s voice was best showcased in an aching rendition of “O Jesulein” which was the highlight of the evening. “Tomorrow shall be my dancing day” was also delightfully rendered. The rest of the evenings music, including the various carols (Silent Night, Have yourself a Merry Little X’mas and a medley), the Abba numbers and even the delightful spectacle of the Santa Lucia (where Von Otter dressed all in white paced in from the back of the hall to illustrate the Swedish bringing of light festival), was all basically filler.

P would like to leave you all with Von Otter singing a Christmas song (the video quality isn’t great, sorry). She did do this one in the concert and P liked it but can’t remember which one it was now. Merry Christmas to all anyway!