By ALLAN KOZINN [NY Times, 22 November 2005]

It was clear early in Angelika Kirchschlager's recital at Alice Tully Hall on Sunday afternoon that something was not quite right. This Austrian mezzo-soprano's tone, usually warm and supple, seemed off its center in an opening group of Haydn songs. The reason became apparent just before the last piece in the set, which she preceded with a cough that sounded serious. Later, when the audience's coughing covered the end of a Liszt song, occasioning a torrent of shushing, Ms. Kirchschlager empathized with the coughers, announcing, "I have a cough, too."