Marian Anderson Sings Spirituals and Carols

courtesy of Jensen Artists

Exactly one week ago this site discussed the nine CDs in Beyond the Music, Sony Classical’s fifteen-CD collection of all the recordings made by contralto Marian Anderson for RCA Victor. Today is the release date of this album, and the Amazon.com Web page has been updated accordingly. That makes this an appropriate time to discuss the rest of the musical content, five CDs devoted to spirituals and carols.

By way of disclaimer, I should begin by observing that I have been an atheist for over half of my life, after having been born Jewish. However, simply by virtue of being a citizen of the United States of America with both radio and television content at my disposal, it is almost impossible to avoid being bombarded by Christmas carols every December. For the most part I can endure this annual obsession. However, the selections on the CD of carols were arranged by Robert Russell Bennett, giving them a treatment that could not be more distant from the centuries-old tradition of neighbors singing carols at the doors of other neighbors. For better or worse, my guess is that RCA was more interested in a marketable commodity than in merely providing an opportunity to listen to Anderson take on a different genre.

On the other hand, while Anderson’s talents were best served by art song and occasional ventures into opera, the spirituals she recorded clearly accounted for a significant share of her “roots.” As a result, one can appreciate that every track she recorded rested on a bedrock of sincerity. That said, there is a fair amount of overlap across the first three of the four CDs of spirituals. My guess is that these releases had more to do with support technology, rather than content.

Thus, the tracks on the first CD were all released as ten-inch 78 RPM records between 1924 and 1947. The content of the second CD was released as 78s, 45s, and a single monaural LP, meaning the RCA was weaning their customers away from 78s in favor of the higher-quality 45s and LPs. Not only was the third CD, released in 1962, based entirely on LP content; but that content was part of RCA’s new “Living Stereo” offerings.

The fourth recording, however, departs from the usual approach to the preceding spiritual albums. Jus’ Keep On Singin’ consists of fourteen spirituals conjoined almost in the spirit of a song cycle. All of the offerings were arranged by Hall Johnson; but only the last of them, “Ride On, King Jesus,” is likely to be familiar to most listeners.

Recording sessions took place in the fall of 1964, and the album itself was the penultimate RCA release of Anderson performances. One gets the impression that Anderson herself planned the “program” of this album, while the RCA bean-counters probably provided input over the content of the three preceding releases. To some extent the result provides a reflection of not only Anderson’s personal approach to singing spirituals but also her dramatic experiences in singing opera.