It was the great witness Whittaker Chambers, I think, who wrote somewhere that to hear Fannie Lou Hamer speak, or Martin Luther King preach, or Marian Anderson sing was to hear a voice that spoke from the center of sadness, even from the center of the earth. The words have been in my mind because of a couple of evenings spent listening, for the first time in a while, to the voice of Leontyne Price, who might easily be added to the list.



JB at Kairos had posted the words of There Is A Balm In Gilead last week and I'd been reminded of renditions by Jessye Norman and Leontyne Price, the latter in a collection from RCA Victor Red Seal called The Essential Leontyne Price: Spirituals, Hymns & Sacred Songs. These are not, of course, recent recordings but I've checked and the set remains available here and here and, in fact, at less than $20 for the 2 CD set, is practically being given away. You owe it to yourself to have this collection in your library.