I Let The E-mail Speak

I copy for your reading pleasure, an e-mail I just dispatched to a luckless reviewer. I will let my response to his review speak for itself.

Dear Mr Lebrecht:

You clearly missed the whole point of this cd by Anne Sofie Von Otter in your recent online review.

Ms Von Otter is paying homage to the remarkable musical genius of Benny Andersson, one quarter of the former pop group ABBA and the most respected songwriter in Sweden. You don't like ABBA, fine, we can all enjoy your bizarre protests about their music. Von Otter did not make this album for profit; if you had bothered to watch the press pack dvd interviews, you would have witnessed that she is as moved by Andersson's music as she is Schubert or Bach. Many of us feel that way about Andersson's music, both post-ABBA and during ABBA. I am sick and tired of American reviewers (I can only assume you are American, given your slight against ABBA) defaming ABBA. Why is it so hard for those in the States to appreciate ABBA's iconic status and creative brilliance? The rest of the world realised their legacy years ago and this is why their records continue to sell prodigiously and why Mamma Mia! is the most popular musical in the world. Von Otter's cd is nothing more than a beautiful tribute to a man whose music has touched her heart.

ABBA is the second largest selling group in history, and the four former members, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltksog, are respected by many in the music industry. In case you missed it, ABBA's music has had a critical reappraisal in recent years. Guess what? The songs never were bubblegum, or crass. The majority of ABBA's songs are masterpieces, and I suggest you listen to The Visitors, their final studio album to understand why. On there, you will find mature, adult songs of polished perfection. Here, one can freely roam through the heartbreaking terrain of post-divorce emptiness, feel the terror pulsating through a discovered dissident of the Soviet Union, or be swept up in the majesty of an ABBA libretto. Yes, ABBA. These songs are waiting to be discovered by those who dismiss ABBA as a '70s disco band.

Before making any further egregious comments about the "cabaret loot" of ABBA, I urge you to listen to more of their repertoire. And, for the record, Andersson and Ulvaeus are indeed in the process of bringing the Kristina musical to Broadway. It is currently in workshop, but they have yet to find an American vocalist as talented or as exceptional as Helen Sjoholm to play the lead role.

I hope when the musical does hit Broadway that it knocks your socks off and allows you to hear what you have been missing. Maybe then you will come to appreciate the complex, melancholic beauty of Mr. Andersson's songs. Genius is never recognised in its time.

Yours sincerely,
XXX
Vancouver, Canada