The Best of Kathleen Battle
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Brand: MilleniumComposer: George Gershwin
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Composer: Gustave Charpentier
Composer: George Frederick Handel
Composer: Ambroise Thomas
Composer: Gaetano Donizetti
Composer: Gabriel Faure
Composer: Johann II [Junior] Strauss
Composer: Spiritual Traditional
Composer: American Traditional
Conductor: André Previn
Conductor: James Levine
Conductor: Myung-Whun Chung
Conductor: Bruno Campanella
Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini
Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
Orchestra: Orchestra of St. Luke's
Orchestra: Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Orchestra: Bastille Opera Orchestra
Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-11-09
Music Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Soundtracks:
- Summertime
- I loves you, Porgy
- Porgi amor
- Welche Wonne, welche Lust
- S'altro che lagrime
- Una donna a quindici anni
- Depuis le jour
- E pur cosi / Piangeri la sorte mia
- Oui! pour ce soir... Je suis Titania
- Ah! tardai troppo... O luce di quest'anima
- 4. Pie Jesu (Sopran)
- Voices of Spring, Op.410 (Frohlingsstimmen) - vocal version
- Swing Low, Sweet Chariot / Ride Up in the Chariot
- Witness "Oh, Lord, what manner of man is dis?"
- Talk About a Child
- He's got the whole world in His hands
Music reviews of The Best of Kathleen Battle
Music Review: A Great Coloratura Soprano
Rating: 5 Stars
Coloratura sopranos are a dying breed today. The era of Lily Pons and Beverly Sills is long gone and opera audiences favor a more "heavy" coloratura sound- or at least a full lyric one, such as the voice types of Kiri Te Kenawa, Carol Vanness and Renee Fleming. Kathleen Battle was in many ways an artist who payed homage to the coloratura queens of olden days. Only Natalie Dessay, of late, represents that kind of singer. much This album showcases her best work, and she is in fine voice, bringing a luminous and sunny quality to her interpretations, while keeping the dramatic appeal of the text. She was at best a Handel/Mozart/Strauss/Gounod singer, and never fared well in the more dramatic reperotoire of Verdi or Puccini heroines. She never sang Madame Butterfly, which if she had gone through training, she could have nailed, especially because her dramatic aspirations coupled with her soft, vulnerable sound would have suited her as Ciao Ciao San, in the way that Ying Huang interpreted the role. Verdi opera must have frightened her and she could never dream of taking on the roles that Leontyne Price performed, surely an influence in her student days made all the more credible because Leontyne Price was a "sister" African-American. So Leonora, Aida and Suor Angelica were out of her reach. While she sang with Jessie Norman in concert and recitals (like the Spirituals Concert), she must have been secretly or overtly ? jealous of the fact that Jessye Norman had a voice that could swallow the world!! A big, beautiful voice such as Ms. Norman's is closer to the true goddesses of operas in the tradition of Maria Callas, while Battle is more of the "tiny, bright, canary" voice. She ranks among the best of the lighter sopranos- Beverly Sills, and like Sumi Jo today. Her fellow co-artists used to call her the "Singing Mosquito". But she is marvelous in singing Handel oratorio(the only times I've heard her sing live), Mozart- Sussannah, Zerlina, the Countess in Figaro, Gounod- Juliette, Bizet- Micaela, but could never truly master the more difficult Mozart heroines- Dona Ana in Don Giovanni or Fiordiligi in Cosi Fan Tutte or even Konstanza in Die Entfurung, though try she did. In Strauss operas, she made a fine Zerbinetta, though she always oozed a confidence that made it seem as if these difficult pieces were a piece of cake for her. Some arias in this collection appear that way too.
Kathleen Battle has long since disappeared from the opera world, singing off and on. Her last singing engagement was for the soundtrack to the Japanese action saga "House of Flying Daggers" in which she sings in a very Japanese/poetic style. Before that she sang in Mythodea opposite Jessie Norman in a massive choral work by Vangelis, and also in Disney's Fantasia 2000. Her constant bitchiness, diva antics and disrespect to conductors and singers became too much and finally Joseph Volpe fired her from the Met. She had stayed there for so long because James Levine took a shine to her. As a singer, she was a perfectionist and in her body of work it shows. But she displayed a nasty diva temperament that does not sit well today. In the 80's, she would come to rehearsals late, would criticize everyone from conductor to costuma makers and even once disrespected the much older and experienced Rosalind Elias, a beloved mezzo at the Met. While I think that Volpe did the right thin in firing Battle, I think that Battle's voice is glorious and would buy her albums, even if she mostly poses as if she were in Vogue cover shots.
Description of The Best of Kathleen Battle
16 tracks. 20TH CENTURY MASTERS collection.Classical CDs
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