Don, I emailed the recent part of this thread to Suzanne including your link to the sound files. Here's her response.

..."Hi Alice, As we know, the old recordings really miss the depth of voice.   Most of the fabulous golden age
coloraturas sound like Minnie Mouse a lot of the time. However, Marion Anderson was certainly a true
contralto. You have to hear some of her spirituals where she brings out the really dark low, low tones to hear
the differences. I will give a little thought to some current voices that qualify. Sorry I have to go. I think that
the singer that responded is very knowledgeable.....we need more like him out there. As to Delilah 's arias -
not a fair comparison because the French music forces everyone to lighten up in order to be true to the style
and language.
Suzanne "