Kathleen Battle

[Mozart]

Does Battle win the award for most annoying soprano ever? How did this woman get to sing with Pavarotti?

[Don]

Does Battle win the award for most annoying soprano ever? How did this woman get to sing with Pavarotti?

Given that Pavarotti is quite annoying, a duo with Battle sounds about right.

[Mozart]

Given that Pavarotti is quite annoying, a duo with Battle sounds about right.

Pavarotti might not be a great actor but he had a tremendous voice. Battle looks like and sings like a rat and her acting is even worse. How does someone like that get famous?

[Don]

Pavarotti might not be a great actor but he had a tremendous voice. Battle looks like and sings like a rat and her acting is even worse. How does someone like that get famous?

All I can say is that I'd much rather look at and listen to Battle than "The Histrionic Hulk".

[Don]

She sure doesn't look like a rat.

[knight66]

Battle looks like and sings like a rat and her acting is even worse. How does someone like that get famous?

Nonsense, although it is not proof positive; her 'acting' has won at least one award. She had a beautiful flexabel voice and a very engaging stage appearance. She could switch on the professional charm most convincingly, even if she was a real pain in the backside to work with.





What kind of rats do they have round your house?

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

Battle blotted her copybook and effectively put an end to her career by getting a little too big for her rather small boots. There is no doubting, however, that she had a lovely voice and could be enchanting on stage. There is quite a bit of video evidence too (her Adina to Pavarotti's Elvino in L'Elisir d'Amore. her Despina in a Salzburg Cosi fan Tutte, her Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and her Pamina, to name but four).

Here is some of her Zerbinetta http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WhBAQGUX68A

[Mozart]

Battle blotted her copybook and effectively put an end to her career by getting a little too big for her rather small boots. There is no doubting, however, that she had a lovely voice and could be enchanting on stage. There is quite a bit of video evidence too (her Adina to Pavarotti's Elvino in L'Elisir d'Amore. her Despina in a Salzburg Cosi fan Tutte, her Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos and her Pamina, to name but four).

Here is some of her Zerbinetta http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WhBAQGUX68A

That was disgusting and so phoney!

[Tsaraslondon]

That was disgusting and so phoney!

Oh please! What is your problem with her? Has she done something to hurt you personally? I am not one of her greatest fans, but to say she looks and sounds like a rat is ridiculous and hardly amounts to measured criticism. You surely can't deny she can sing? I admit the performance is a little arch, though this may have been less noticeable if you were actually in the theatre. Remember she is acting for the stage, not the tv camera, something people too easily forget these days. as they never set foot in a theatre or concert hall and judge everything from CDs and DVDs.

And, incidentally, I suppose Pavarotti was never phoney. When he did his last Cavaradossis at Covent Garden, they had to provide a high stool for him to sit on for the majority of the performance, whilst the rest of the cast moved around him. And we were supposed to believe that this was an ardent, young artist and revolutionary. Sorry, but that was suspending my disbelief too far.

[Guido]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14gldr8Lje4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sWtQ7w_lg4

Astonishingly beautiful in my opinion. Does anyone else like these as much as I do? I guess people might complain that it's all about the sound at the expense of the text, but I just can't complain when it's that sound!

Reading the above is so luaghable! If Zerbinetta isn't arch as a character, I don't know who is.

[Harry Powell]

Phoney stands well for Battle. I wonder how in earth a theatre that had listened to Sutherland could accept her as coloratura soprano.

[JoshLilly]

Phoney stands well for Battle. I wonder how in earth a theatre that had listened to Sutherland could accept her as coloratura soprano.

It's a matter of opinion - or maybe it's better to say personal taste, since I didn't really decide which singers I would like, it just happened a bit naturally for me.  I personally have a high respect for Sutherland's technical abilities, but I can't stand the sound of her voice (something not really under her control, so I don't consider it any fault of hers).  Battle, on the other hand, has one of the 5 most naturally gorgeous voices I've ever heard... not to mention truly impressive technical abilities to back it up.

As far as acting goes, I'm indifferent.  I can have a great time watching an opera, and own a few DVDs, but I've only seen Battle in such a way once (L'elisir d'amore', with Pavarotti actually).   But to me, an opera need be nothing more than a gigantic orchestral suite which happens to include human voices as just another instrument.  Some of my absolute favourite operas, I've never read the libretto and sometimes don't even have the vaguest clue as to what it's about... and I really and truly don't care one whit.  It's only about the music for me, and if I happen to find the words interesting that's just a circumstantial bonus.

But that's where Kathleen Battle delivers when it counts, as far as I'm concerned.  The only place it matters: an utterly beautiful voice that she refined technically into a fantastic package.  For stage acting, how she behaves, or anything else, it has no impact on my appreciation of her voice.

[Harry Powell]

It's a matter of opinion - or maybe it's better to say personal taste, since I didn't really decide which singers I would like, it just happened a bit naturally for me.  I personally have a high respect for Sutherland's technical abilities, but I can't stand the sound of her voice (something not really under her control, so I don't consider it any fault of hers).  Battle, on the other hand, has one of the 5 most naturally gorgeous voices I've ever heard... not to mention truly impressive technical abilities to back it up.

As you say, it's a matter of opinion. Of minority opinion.

[JoshLilly]

As you say, it's a matter of opinion. Of minority opinion.

When it comes to personal tastes or opinion, I don't understand what majority, minority, or dead equality would have to do with it.  All opinions are just from one person at a time.

[Decaffeinato]

Just saw her Susanna in Marriage of Figaro and thought she absolutely owned the role.  I loved it and thought her voice was quite sweet.

Disappointed to see some comments on this thread that quite honestly smack of crypto-racism.  Hopefully I'm just misreading.

[Daverz]

Love her voice.  Don't care if she's been a bad girl.

[knight66]

I have quite a number of pieces where she is one of the singers and I thought her silvery voice was beautiful and her technique was first rate. As far as I know she did not stray into territory that was outside her natural range. I saw her once live, a concert recital. She had the audience eating out of her hand, charm personified. I remember sitting there and while falling for the charm, recalling some of her exceptionally bad behaviour. But the important thing was that the recital was of such a high quality and very enjoyable, and she looked sensational in a dress that had been used in the cover of a then recently issued Handel opera.

Mike

[Sean]

Two recommendations- Mozart Great mass with Karajan, Mahler Four with Maazel.

[betterthanfine]

I absolutely adore her voice. Two of my favourite recordings by her:

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She obviously cares more about a beautiful musical line than she does about getting the words across, but there's not a single song that is less than gorgeously sung. And in songs like 'Die männer sind méchant', she proves that can bring the drama when required.

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To the person who could not believe people who 'had listened to Sutherland could accept her as coloratura soprano': I choose this over Sutherland's Händel every time.

[Sean]

Good stuff; Sutherland always had great difficulty singing straight.