Good Evening!
Well... I ended up back at Carnegie Hall this afternoon. Kathleen Battle was making a sort of "I'm ba-ack" appearance, and since the cheap seats were really cheap, well, I figured what-the-frell?
It was an interesting recital. She sang relatively well in a dress that she kept getting caught up in, literally kicking it to the side regularly throughout the recital. And, yes, her accompanist had his foot on the soft pedal the whole time it seemed.
Ms. Battle has quite the "history" and reputation - both good and downright awful - but, I have to say, she still has quite a fan-base - VERY vocal. The program was basically a sort of "greatest hits" for her. A lot of chestnuts from the classical art song repertory, along with her requisite Negro spirituals. Frankly, I thought she gave the classical rep a bit of a short shrift. Yes, she sounded pretty, but some of the interpretations were quite mannered and "literal" - lots of hand gestures. It was until the second half of the recital where it finally seemed that she just wanted to SING! In any case...
She did sound lovely, and she still has that bright, pingy, clear soprano. However, I could tell there was some natural "color" that comes with growing older that she was trying to avoid... hide...deny(?). She also took some of the longest between-song pauses I've ever experienced in a song recital. Sometimes she was waiting for people in the audience to get settled. Other times she was checking her lyrics from the crib sheet she had on the piano, or she was being fed them by her accompanist - sometimes during the songs! -At least it appeared that way to me. And there were times it just seemed like she was waiting for the song to come to her - or, at the very least, make her fans come closer to her by some manipulated anticipation.
Although, since I'm partially deaf from the "Brava's" being shouted by the two gentlemen behind me after almost every single number - she was also greeted with a partial standing ovation before she sang a note - maybe I'm just being too cynical.
