Kathleen Battle, Leonard Slatkin, Orchestra of St. Luke's: A Christmas Celebration (1990)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 246 Mb | Total time: 62:27 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 47587 | Recorded: 1986
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 246 Mb | Total time: 62:27 | Scans included
Classical | Label: EMI Classics | # 47587 | Recorded: 1986
If you could only have two Christmas CDs, Kathleen Battle's "A Christmas Celebration" would definitely be one (and "A Charlie Brown Christmas" would be the other.)While Battle has been known to be a temperamental diva (leading to a quasi-banishment from operatic roles), her pretty, soaring soprano is without peer. So good is her voice that I would consider several of the cuts on this disc to be definitive performances, not only of Battle's repertoire, but of all performances ever of that song. Case in point would be her rendition of Gounod's "Ave Maria". Haunting and stunning at the same time, it's as if the angel itself were singing.