Kathleen Battle - Grace

Kathleen Battle is one of the people whose lovely voice first turned me on to opera, a rather unaccessible art to the common American. It is true that you can hear her breathe, and that she tempers her notes so they are sometimes gentle, sometimes strong, but that is not a weakness. The racks are rife with stereotypical fat ladies with fat voices, bellowing with nothing but technique, but there records languish while Kathleen's sell.

The songs are all fairly main stream and include a dramatic range from happy to sad. Nothing outlandish here.

Ms. Battle has been called the most beautiful soprano voice and I would heartily agree. The clarity, the roundness, the beauty of her sound is pure femininity and grace. I studied opera and no one in school or anywhere else, has ever been on her level. Some are close, but she is magnificent.

1-Messiah, oratorio, HWV 56 Rejoice Greatly
2-Schlafendes Jesuskind ("Sohn der Jungfrau"), song for voice & piano (Möricke Lieder)
3-Vesperae solennes de confessore for soloists, chorus & orchestra, K. 339 Laudate Dominum
4-# Joshua, oratorio, HWV 64 O Had I Juba's Lyre
5-Bach. Cantata No. 21, "Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis," BWV 21 (BC A99) Seufzer, Tränen, Kummer, Not
6-Cantata No. 208, "Was mir behagt," (Hunt Cantata), BWV 208 (BC G1, G3) Schafe können
7-Ave Maria, for voice & orchestra (adapted from Intermezzo of "Cavalleria Rusticana")
8-Messa di Gloria, for soloists, chorus & orchestra Laudamus Te
9-Bist du bei mir, aria arranged for voice & continuo (after Gottfried Stölzel), BWV 508
10-Cantata No. 68, "Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt," BWV 68 (BC A86) Mein gläubiges Herze
11-Requiem, for 2 solo voices, chorus, organ & orchestra, Op. 48 Pie Jesu
12-Tradicional. Were You There ( When They Crucified My Lord)?
13-Weihnachtsoratorium (Christmas Oratorio), in six parts, BWV 248 (BC D7) Flößt, mein Heiland
14-Ave Maria, for voice & piano (or other vocal arrangements; after Bach's Prelude No. 1 from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1)