Marian Anderson’s vocal artistry honored in new CD bonanza

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. But Anderson had a long international career as a concert recitalist with a voice of astonishing warmth and grandeur that conductor Arturo Toscanini said “one is privileged to hear only once in a 100 years.” Listeners can experience her storied career later this month when Sony Classical issues a digitally remastered collection spanning her career from 1924 to 1966. The final disc contains excerpts from a 1957 tour of Asia, Anderson was considered a contralto, the deepest vocal range for a female singer, and her ability to take her voice down to subterranean terrain can be heard in the spiritual “Crucifixion.” But she could also move up nearly three octaves, and in songs like Schubert’s “Die Forelle” she lightens her voice to sound like a lyric soprano. “I think of Jessye Norman Grace Bumbry or Shirley Verrett, who sang things that they decided they would sing rather than what somebody said they should.” Some selections from later years show the deterioration of her voice over time. “I would love someone to listen to Marian Anderson’s recordings and think, ‘Who else is out there?’” Packaged as a 228-page coffee-table book with essays, illustrations and details of her discography, “Beyond the Music, Marian Anderson, Her Complete RCA Victor Recordings” is being released on Aug. 27 and sells on Amazon for $97.74.