Customer Rating: 
Summary: One of my favorite discs
Comment: This is a magnificent pairing of voices. I've had the disc for years and it never fails to leave me feeling uplifted and awed.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Magnificent
Comment: One of the finest CD's Ive ever listened to, even better when you have someone as magificent as Jessye Norman and of course Kathleen Battle. Two tremendous stars that shine bright in anyones life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I wish I had seen the concert
Comment: Put two operatic sopranos together for a concert of spirituals, and what do you expect? So much emphasis on artistry, that the almost sacredness of the spiritual is lost? Not so in this case! Both Norman and Battle have maintained the depth of feeling this genre is meant to portray.
Put two operatic sopranos together for a concert, and what do you expect? Two voices so similar that time drags in a seemingly endless monotony? Not so in this case! The contrast between Norman's sheer power and Battle's lyricism and vocal flexibility keeps the listener on audio tiptoe. And there is the obvious rapport with their audience, so vividly noted in the crowd's response throughout "Scandalize My Name."
I can understand the concerns of some previous reviewers, that this is not what we might call a "standard" approach to spirituals. However, my collection includes several recordings of spirituals, from the simplicity of Marion Anderson, to the folksiness of Harry Belafonte, to "Spirituals for Strings," and the chorales of Fred Waring and Robert Shaw. Each of these approaches elicits a new depth of the feeling expressed in this musical form.
"Spirituals in Concert" is a welcome and worthy addition to what I already owned.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It Just Doesn't Get Any Better!
Comment: You can tell right from the start that they had fun doing this performance together. Listen in particular to "Scandalized My Name." What a kick! This recording is from the PBS TV broadcast of a few years ago. Just hearing them isn't as good as seeing the show, but it's about as close as you can get. Great music.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Lord, How Come Me Here"
Comment: I must add, to the praises above, that Kathleen Battle's "Lord, How Come Me Here" is the best "quick" explanation of the long-lasting effects of slavery that I can think of. The line, "They sold my children away," says it all.
And the VERY funny "Scandelize My Name" is also worth the price of the total album!
Alinde O'Malley
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