Going Home

Deanna Durbin lets the words and music do the work--not her vocal beauty. And her rendition must be one of the best. Sissel Kyrkjebo, a soprano from Norway, sings the song with brilliance; but Deanna Durbin's rendition is powered by her understatement. The song derives from Dvorak 1893 Symphony 9 "From the New World", 2nd movement--Largo; words were written in 1922 by Dvořák's pupil William Arms Fisher. It is a beautiful song by any measure, by any standard. Both Dvorak and Fisher were inspired by the Negro Spiritual and so it evokes intentionaly the Negro spiritual. In Dvorak's symphony, the audience immediately hears Aaron Copeland and Charles Ives.