Kathleen Battle - Mozart: Concert aria K.418 Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio! Live, NY Phil, 1983

The sumptuous American lyric-coloratura soprano Kathleen Battle sings arguably Mozart's supreme soprano aria, K.418 "Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio!" in a live performance with the New York Philharmonic in October 1983, Zubin Mehta conducting. I have not seen this performance on YouTube as of my posting.

It appears Battle programmed this aria regularly in the early 1980s, including her first season at the Salzburg Festival in a 1982. She made her debut there as Despina in "Cosi fan tutte" on July 28, then appeared in a matinee concert on July 31, singing this aria and "Exsultate Jubilate." And, of course, recorded it commercially on her first solo aria recital disc in 1985 (released in 1986). One can hear why Battle was so closely associated with this aria as she clearly had an affinity it -- she is an ideal interpreter of both the dreamy serenity of adagio section and urgent passion of the closing allegro. It's worth nothing that she takes the very final note up an octave (A4 to A5) -- I'm not aware her doing this small variation elsewhere.

Видео Kathleen Battle - Mozart: Concert aria K.418 Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio! Live, NY Phil, 1983 канала songbirdwatcher