The Star-Ledger
Eye on TV
By JERRY KRUPNICK
Freedom Rings
How smart is was of public television to hold over a marvelous Boston Pops concert from last summer, in order to provide a special
high note during February’s Black History Month.
The rousing result of all this planning
ahead, “Songs of Freedom,” airs tonight at
Above all, it sparkles with musical performances by soprano Shirley Verett, folk singer Odetta and the Boys Choir of Harlem, supported
and enhanced by John Williams and his Boston Pops Orchestra. Put them all together and we have a stirring celebration of music
from the Civil War to the civil rights movement of the ‘60s.
Among the highlights: a brash
and compelling overture from the orchestra built around the “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” theme; the haunting “Ashokan Farewell”
from Ken Burns’ “The Civil War” masterpiece; the theme from “Glory” sung by the Boys Choir, who are then joined by Verett for “The
Battle Hymn of the Republic;” Odetta’s a capella rendition of “Black Woman” and “Woke Up This Morning With My Mind on Freedom;” Verrett’s
sensitive reading of “Motherless Child;” and a medley from Verett, Odetta and the choir of “Oh, Freedom,” “Down by the Riverside,”
and “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.”
In addition, Roscoe Lee Browne offers a moving “Lincoln
Portrait” and recites Lance Jeffers’ “I Do Not Know the Power of My Black Hand.”
Making
this concert even more meaningful is the wonderful collection of still photographs, many by Matthew Brady, depicting the Civil War,
not only in its battles, but in its music as well.
The results are pure gold, rewarding
and rollicking and moving, a superb way for us to see and hear those truths of freedom go marching on.