In Concert
After years of being one of the foremost singers of light lyrics,  Kathleen Battle, searching for challenging new musical expression, tackles the  dramatic Mozart repertory. Blessed with one of our generation's prettiest  soubrette voices, Battle breezes through the technical challenges of theCountess and Constanze,but sounds like a little girl trying on Mommy's  shoes. She lacks the vocal variety and depth to successfully bring these pieces  to life. Her renditions of the soubrette repertory, especially "Ruhe sanft," are  Mozartfully graceful. In theMagic Fluteexcerpts she demonstrates that  merely singing Mozart's written notes is enough to bring its beauty to life;  practically all necessary expression is written into the musical lines.-- Barbara Eisner Bayer