Kathleen Battle, center, performing a concert of spirituals at the Metropolitan Opera.Credit...Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera
Review: Kathleen Battle Returns to the Met After 22 Years. It Was Worth the Wait.
By Anthony Tommasini
Nov. 14, 2016
After the bitterness of the soprano Kathleen Battle’s rift with the Metropolitan Opera in 1994, it looked as if she would never return to the company’s stage. That year, Joseph Volpe, then the Met’s general manager, in an extraordinarily blunt statement, dismissed her from a production of Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment” for “unprofessional actions” during rehearsals that were “profoundly detrimental” to artistic collaborations among cast members. She was dropped from the Met’s roster for good, it seemed.
But on Sunday, at the invitation of the current general manager, Peter Gelb, Ms. Battle was back, not for an opera production (soon after that 1994 incident she turned her attention to recitals) but for a special concert program she has been presenting in various cities in recent years, titled “Kathleen Battle: Underground Railroad — A Spiritual Journey.” The house was sold out. Audience members who had waited 22 years to hear her at the Met had to wait a little longer on Sunday, because the concert started 40 minutes late. It was worth the delay.
Performing with an impressive choir called Voices of the Underground Railroad, two fine pianists and some special guests (including Wynton Marsalis), Ms. Battle, 68, sang with remarkable freshness and beauty. Even at the height of her operatic career, her voice was a light lyric soprano, ideal for roles like Strauss’s Sophie and Mozart’s Susanna. Yet during those years she sang with such focus and bloom that her sound had penetrating richness and radiant presence.
For much of this recital on Sunday her singing had these same special qualities. There were some breathy passages and slight signs of strain. But for the most part she sounded wonderful, especially in her lovely high range. In the spirituals “Lord, How Come Me Here?” and “Let Us Break Bread Together,” among many others, she sent high phrases soaring and sang with ethereal elegance.
Nov. 14, 2016
After the bitterness of the soprano Kathleen Battle’s rift with the Metropolitan Opera in 1994, it looked as if she would never return to the company’s stage. That year, Joseph Volpe, then the Met’s general manager, in an extraordinarily blunt statement, dismissed her from a production of Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment” for “unprofessional actions” during rehearsals that were “profoundly detrimental” to artistic collaborations among cast members. She was dropped from the Met’s roster for good, it seemed.
But on Sunday, at the invitation of the current general manager, Peter Gelb, Ms. Battle was back, not for an opera production (soon after that 1994 incident she turned her attention to recitals) but for a special concert program she has been presenting in various cities in recent years, titled “Kathleen Battle: Underground Railroad — A Spiritual Journey.” The house was sold out. Audience members who had waited 22 years to hear her at the Met had to wait a little longer on Sunday, because the concert started 40 minutes late. It was worth the delay.
Performing with an impressive choir called Voices of the Underground Railroad, two fine pianists and some special guests (including Wynton Marsalis), Ms. Battle, 68, sang with remarkable freshness and beauty. Even at the height of her operatic career, her voice was a light lyric soprano, ideal for roles like Strauss’s Sophie and Mozart’s Susanna. Yet during those years she sang with such focus and bloom that her sound had penetrating richness and radiant presence.
For much of this recital on Sunday her singing had these same special qualities. There were some breathy passages and slight signs of strain. But for the most part she sounded wonderful, especially in her lovely high range. In the spirituals “Lord, How Come Me Here?” and “Let Us Break Bread Together,” among many others, she sent high phrases soaring and sang with ethereal elegance.
Ms. Battle and Luciano Pavarotti in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’Amore” at the Met in 1991.Credit...via Metropolitan Opera Archive
https://youtu.be/msSyBPLe4xs
Her dismissal from the Met was arguably justified by well-reported instances of disruptive and petulant behavior. She had similarly strained relationships with other companies. Yet, during this recital I kept thinking about what a sad loss her absence has been to opera lovers in New York and around the world.
When this concert was announced in April, Ms. Battle said that the program “brings together my musical background and my cultural heritage.” Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, the youngest of seven children, she became active as a child in the music of her African Methodist Episcopal church. After her training at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, she began teaching music in grade school. But she was discovered by the conductor Thomas Schippers, who brought her to the attention of James Levine, who became a dedicated mentor.
These spirituals clearly touch her deeply. The focus of the program was the Underground Railroad, the secret network of “conductors” and “pilots” who, at enormous risk, helped thousands of slaves in the South find safe havens and nighttime routes to freedom in the North. Interspersed between the performances of two dozen spirituals by Ms. Battle and the 34-voice choir (conducted by Stephanie Fisher and Rachel Blackburn), there were readings by Jussie Smollett (who acted as narrator) and some choir members of words by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights giants. The great actress Cicely Tyson, 91, riveted the audience with an excerpt from a speech by the slave-born abolitionist Sojourner Truth.
The jazz-infused arrangements of the spirituals were played vibrantly by the stylish pianist Joel A. Martin and, in some pieces, the pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Though many arrangements gave solo opportunities to outstanding singers from the choir, Ms. Battle, of course, was the star. I was especially moved by the spirituals when she sang with just the piano, like “City Called Heaven,” in which she conveyed a poignant mix of longing for the promised city, sadness and childlike innocence.
Ms. Battle remains a prima donna to her core. Her performances were sometimes marred by mannerisms and quirks. Like the schoolteacher she once was, she would hold up a hand to quiet down her pianist, or mouth words to the chorus or, in a couple of strange moments, direct silent gestures to people in the audience.
Muffling the Roar of the Crowd
But this long program, with five encores, was her day, her return. And, given that audiences at the Met are almost always overwhelmingly white, it was meaningful to see so many African-Americans in the house. The final standing ovation was tumultuous.
Review: Kathleen Battle Returns to the Met After 22 Years. It Was Worth the Wait.
https://nyti.ms/2eTCVuv
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/arts/music/kathleen-battle-returns-to-the-met-after-22-years-it-was-worth-the-wait.html
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Her dismissal from the Met was arguably justified by well-reported instances of disruptive and petulant behavior. She had similarly strained relationships with other companies. Yet, during this recital I kept thinking about what a sad loss her absence has been to opera lovers in New York and around the world.
When this concert was announced in April, Ms. Battle said that the program “brings together my musical background and my cultural heritage.” Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, the youngest of seven children, she became active as a child in the music of her African Methodist Episcopal church. After her training at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, she began teaching music in grade school. But she was discovered by the conductor Thomas Schippers, who brought her to the attention of James Levine, who became a dedicated mentor.
These spirituals clearly touch her deeply. The focus of the program was the Underground Railroad, the secret network of “conductors” and “pilots” who, at enormous risk, helped thousands of slaves in the South find safe havens and nighttime routes to freedom in the North. Interspersed between the performances of two dozen spirituals by Ms. Battle and the 34-voice choir (conducted by Stephanie Fisher and Rachel Blackburn), there were readings by Jussie Smollett (who acted as narrator) and some choir members of words by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights giants. The great actress Cicely Tyson, 91, riveted the audience with an excerpt from a speech by the slave-born abolitionist Sojourner Truth.
The jazz-infused arrangements of the spirituals were played vibrantly by the stylish pianist Joel A. Martin and, in some pieces, the pianist Cyrus Chestnut. Though many arrangements gave solo opportunities to outstanding singers from the choir, Ms. Battle, of course, was the star. I was especially moved by the spirituals when she sang with just the piano, like “City Called Heaven,” in which she conveyed a poignant mix of longing for the promised city, sadness and childlike innocence.
Ms. Battle remains a prima donna to her core. Her performances were sometimes marred by mannerisms and quirks. Like the schoolteacher she once was, she would hold up a hand to quiet down her pianist, or mouth words to the chorus or, in a couple of strange moments, direct silent gestures to people in the audience.
Muffling the Roar of the Crowd
But this long program, with five encores, was her day, her return. And, given that audiences at the Met are almost always overwhelmingly white, it was meaningful to see so many African-Americans in the house. The final standing ovation was tumultuous.
Review: Kathleen Battle Returns to the Met After 22 Years. It Was Worth the Wait.
https://nyti.ms/2eTCVuv
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/arts/music/kathleen-battle-returns-to-the-met-after-22-years-it-was-worth-the-wait.html
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