TRADITIONAL
Heav'n Heav'n (arranged H.T. Burleigh)
William King (piano)
Recorded October 1930
Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child
(arr. L. Brown)
William King (piano)
Recorded October 1930
Claude DEBUSSY
(1862-1918)
L'Enfant prodigue: Pourquoi m'as-tu
quittée? (Air de Lia)
Studio Orchestra
Recorded November 1930
Pyotr Il'yich
TCHAIKOVSKY (1840-1893)
The Maid Of Orleans (Jeanne d'Arc):
Adieu, forets
Studio Orchestra
Recorded November 1930
Camille SAINT-SAËNS
(1835-1921)
Samson et Dalila: Amour viens aider
(O Love From Thy Power)
Studio Orchestra
Recorded: November 1930
Gaetano DONIZETTI
(1797-1848)
La favorita: O mio Fernando
Studio Orchestra
Franz SCHUBERT
(1797-1828)
Ave Maria, D. 839
Kosti Vehanen (piano)
Recorded: 7 July 1936
Die Forelle, D. 550
Kosti Vehanen (piano)
Recorded: 13 November 1936
Robert SCHUMANN
(1810-1856)
Myrthen, Op. 25, No. 3: Der Nussbaum
Kosti Vehanen (piano)
Recorded: 3 July 1936
TRADITIONAL
I Can't Stay Away (arranged R. Hayes)
Kosti Vehanen (piano)
Recorded: 2 November 1937
Were You There (arranged H.T. Burleigh)
Kosti Vehanen (piano)
Recorded: 16 December 1937
Dere's No Hidin' Place (arranged L.
Brown)
Kosti Vehanen (piano)
Recorded: 2 November 1937
Ev'ry Time I Feel De Spirit (arranged
L. Brown)
Kosti Vehanen (piano)
Recorded: 2 November 1937
Oh! What A Beautiful City (arranged
E. Boatner)
Franz Rupp (piano)
Recorded: 1 July 1941
Jules MASSENET
(1842-1912)
Elegie
Franz Rupp (piano) / William Primrose
(viola)
Recorded 1 July 1941
Sergei RACHMANINOV
(1873-1943)
In The Silence Of The Secret Night,
Op. 4, No. 3
Franz Rupp (piano) / William Primrose
(viola)
Recorded 1 July 1941
TRADITIONAL
Hold On! (arranged H. Johnson)
Franz Rupp (piano)
Recorded: 12 April 1945
Poor Me (arranged R.N. Dett)
Franz Rupp (piano)
Recorded 10 May 1946
On Ma Journey (arranged E. Boatner)
Franz Rupp (piano)
Recorded 7 May 1947
De Gospel Train (arranged H.T. Burleigh)
This is the second
of Naxos’s Anderson compilations – the
first was Softly Awakes My
Heart and contained pretty much
the same mix as here: arias, songs and
spirituals. This one spans seventeen
years, from 1930 to 1947 and recording
locations vary from Berlin (the earliest),
Paris (the middle years) and New York,
from 1941 onwards. Most of these tracks
have been around on various compilations
and editions over the years and many
are deservedly famous. The Primrose-accompanied
sides are classics though ironically
the two presented here, the Massenet
and Tchaikovsky, are certainly inferior
to their Brahms collaborations. Some
interest accrues to the fact that producer
David Lennick has transferred two items
from Phonycord flexible blue vinyl issues
(of Artiphon originals), issues that
are, he notes, very quiet, albeit tricky
to play.
Her singing of Spirituals
was not that of, say, Mahalia Jackson,
whose lineage came via the oracular,
oratorical magnificence of Bessie Smith.
Anderson’s was clearly the product of
a powerful classical technique though
one that served the narrative and expressive
qualities of such as Sometimes I
Feel Like A Motherless Child extremely
closely. Though it was something of
a theme tune of hers I find Heav'n
Heav'n rather less convincing –
the rolled "r" is out of place
and the texture of the voice remains
arguably too light, the piano vamp accompaniment
certainly too disjoint here. But when
one turns to a superior example of her
art, I can’t stay away, one hears
immediately a special charge and increase
in vocal colour, a real intensity and
idiomatic command – and just enough
intensity of relaxation as well. The
1930 Berlin sides also explored her
theatrical repertoire, albeit pursued
by a swoony little band whose apotheosis
of ungainliness comes in the Tchaikovsky.
Here Anderson could be somewhat static
as an interpretative artist, a feeling
reinforced by her Donizetti. Idiosyncrasies
of pronunciation bear upon her lieder.
She sings "Ave May-ria" for
Ave Maria and her vibrato in this instance
is not under perfect control, though
her Schumann is fresh.
The transfers have
been well managed. I marginally prefer
the Biddulph transfers of the Anderson-Primrose-Rupp
sides but that’s an otherwise exclusively
Primrose affair and won’t otherwise
be of interest to Anderson admirers.
Recommended.
Jonathan Woolf
NAXOS NOSTALGIA 8.120779 [60.52] 
