Kathleen Battle’s Recital

How embarrassing! I was actually one of the hundreds of the “admiring throng” at Kathleen Battle’s recital who didn’t realize that I was being deceived by “exquisite essays in manipulation” until I was enlightened by Times Music Critic Martin Bernheimer (“An Exquisite--Perhaps Too Exquisite--Recital,” May 17).

I was thrilled by Battle’s “perfectly focused, amazingly pure, startlingly clear” voice. I wasn’t astute enough to ascribe her remarkable stage presence, charm and magnetism to a “studiously articulated” and “painstakingly manicured” lack of spontaneity.

And some of us were enthralled by Battle’s music and presentation and called her back repeatedly for her “marathon of encores,” which she graciously delivered, culminating an evening of almost 2 1/2 hours of solo performance.

LOIS GORDON, Santa Monica