Search - Marian Anderson :: Softly Awakes My Heart 1924-1944

The evolution of a great singer.

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 12/03/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In her lifetime of 96 years, American contralto Marian Anderson was celebrated perhaps more as a crusader for the victims of a colour prejudice in their home country than as a gifted and well-trained singer. The emphasis was probably misplaced. When interviewed in her old age she said, "I was never a fighter". She was certainly a superb singer, as this not-to-be-missed Naxos bargain allows C21st listeners to hear.It comprises a varied selection of items from her repertoire recorded between 1924 and 1944. The two earliest items do not show her at her best. Slow moving Negro spirituals, they cruelly expose the presence of some ugly vowel and consonant sounds at this stage of her career. Thereafter, however, and into the electric recording era, diction and tone are exemplary. Only six of the items were recorded in the USA, mostly in poor sound quality. The 1944 item, an aria from Massenet's "Le Cid", provides a glimpse into Marian Anderson's potential as an opera singer, something she was unable to realize in the USA until the very end of her career. Of course, the item that became this singer's "signature tune" is here. Pruned of some of its music, and of the tenor counterpoint provided in its second half by Samson, the extract from "Samson et Dalila" is sung in English as "Softly awakes my heart". Once heard, this performance will gently but firmly insinuate intself into your consciousness, your memory and your soul and live with you forever."