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Review
Soprano projects emotion, high notes
By JOHN FLEMING
Published January 15, 2006
TAMPA - Kathleen Battle opened her recital Saturday night with one of her trademarks, Let the bright Seraphim, a high-flying aria from Handel's oratorio Samson.
Though Battle is a light soprano, her voice projected remarkably clearly in Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center's voluminous Morsani Hall, heard just as well probably - perhaps even better, given the ethereal, floating quality of her high notes - in the upper galleries as in the orchestra section.
Forming the cornerstone of Battle's program, with pianist Ted Taylor, were two groups of German songs, one by Mendelssohn, the other by Richard Strauss.
such a theatrical manner of communicating a song, that the songs had a wonderful lightness of touch. A highlight was Mendelssohn's Auf Flugeln des Gesanges, a dreamy love song with the bright, soaring notes that Battle is so magnificently secure in, enhanced by her effective dramatics to sell the lyrics.
Another highlight, right after intermission, was a bel canto classic, O luce di quest'anima, an aria for the title character in Donizetti's Linda di Chamonix, with spectacular trills and a daringly high passage at the end.
Also on the agenda was a Spanish set, and Battle's luxuriant phrasing of Obradors' Del cabello mas sutil was especially moving. In another Obradors song, Chiquitita la novia, her embellishment of the word for "mosquito net" was typically cute.
Battle, known for her diva style, looked properly glamorous in a long burgundy gown, draped in a saffron shawl. She is a superb creature of the stage, and had the audience of 1,762 with her all the way.
Saturday's concert was not flawless. In the Handel aria, Battle was somewhat short of the jewel-like precision that she brought to this repertoire at the peak of her career. In Strauss' Schlechtes Wetter, Taylor launched into the stormy introduction, then had to stop and start over when the soprano wasn't ready.
Battle ended her program with three African-American spirituals, bringing the same depth of emotion to them as to German lied or French chanson. She delivered a rendition of Great Day that was spectacular. Her narrative skills were put to stirring use in Hale Smith's infectious arrangement of Witness.
For an encore, Battle and Taylor performed a heartfelt hymn, His Eye Is on the Sparrow, dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.
[Last modified January 15, 2006, 01:47:20]
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