Anne Sophie von Otter is one of my very favourite singers. She not only has a lovely voice, an obvious prerequisite for aural enjoyment, but she also displays considerable artistry, notably the ability to communicate directly to the listener by singing with admirable wit and sensitivity. She is also an incredibly versatile artist who is now even embracing the works of Wagner and this two-disc highlights set, culled from her many recordings for DG, displays extraordinary versatility in works that range from Monteverdi, Purcell and Dowland to contemporary "pop" composers such as Elvis Costello and Andersson and Ulvaeus from Abba, taking in along the way Handel, Mozart, Mahler and Strauss to name just a few. "Crossover" is notoriously difficult to carry off effectively, but how well Miss von Otter dispatches these songs, which are, incidentally, quite wonderful. I already own some of the CDs from which these excerpts are taken, but not the numbers by Kurt Weill, for which my appetite has been well and truly whetted. The same is true of the songs by Chaminade and Haas, which were previously unknown to me. But there are so many delights here, both familiar and unfamiliar, and I urge you to snap up this disc without delay; it is a bargain!