Kathleen Battle: Oh Quand je Dors - Liszt 08 / 17

Kathleen Battle at the Metropolitan Museum.
Piano: Warren Jones
31 August 1990

[haroldleboeuf]

Truly one of the most beautiful voices in any music.

[bogofusion]

I laughed out loud at some of the comments below. She doesn't roll, her face actually moves to articulate the lyric, etc etc. despite the fact that this performance is exquisite in the extreme. Her face beautiful throughout, and her sound DIVINE. Thank you Opera buff for posting.

[mikekarren]

As always pure perfection as only Kathleen can!

[pianotalent]

OUT OF THIS 🌎 THE BEST INTERPRETATION
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[laurizconarroz]

This is so beautifully done. One of my favorite pieces.

[MrInterestingthings]

She amazes me and I'm not even a singer . All musicians can recognize amazing phrasing and musicality !

[hermajesty]

Absolute perfection. Saw her live at a Shea’s matinee in 1986. Absolutely flawless.

[southwestpiano]

Love the tempo, phrasing and overall interpretation

[jade]

Merveilleuse interprète et une voix sublime

[becauseIhaveto]

This is perfection. Thank you, AJS95060.

[Shoreseeker]

Absolutely extraordinary! Need I say more?

[marlyharris]

Magical and exquisite; I certainly understood her French pronunciation. Perhaps not echt but it works for this peasant.

[StRaymondtheRude]

I am mystified by Marie Hall's remark that R's are not rolled in French.  Not in spoken French, but definitely in sung French.  Am I misunderstanding her use of the word "rolled?"  I can only find one rendition of this divine song on YouTube sung by a native French singer--that by Marie Devellereau--but I hear plenty of rolled R's in her performance.  I've always felt that Kathleen Battle was the ideal singer of this song due to her ability to sing softly: after all, the poet is sleeping.

[ChagoWilson]

Happy 72nd Life Anniversary
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Our Dearest Soprano, Kathleen Battle

[christinakay]

Gorgeous, although I'll never understand how she sounds so good with all the weird jaw/lip stuff going on....

[BrianDonaldMcKay]

The problem lies with her extremely soft articulation of consonants, I believe.

[BrianDonaldMcKay]

Technically and artistically great but a French audience would be hard put to understand her.

[fayeasteraceae]

Too bad she's such a diva the Met banned her from singing there ever again

[herrbrucvald]

i feel like i'm listening to an operetta

[mariehall]

Her voice is pretty, but the Rs are NOT rolled in French.  I am very embarrassed for her.  She has so many pronounced and rolled Rs, as if she is singing in Italian.  Also, her timing is off - she does not follow the written length of all of the notes - quarter, half, etc.  Otherwise, her high notes are nice with a floating feeling.  I can't believe though that she is all the Met with such rolled Rs in French.  It is like nails on a chalkboard. :)