Steal Away: Spirituals and Gospel Songs

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Traditional, Will James, Nathaniel Dett

Genre:

Vocal

Label: Début

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 54

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: 569707-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Oh, what a beautiful city Traditional, Composer
Julius Drake, Piano
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
Sometimes I feel like a motherless chile Traditional, Composer
Julius Drake, Piano
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
True religion Traditional, Composer
Ken Burton, Conductor
London Adventist Chorale
Traditional, Composer
I wanna be ready Traditional, Composer
Ken Burton, Conductor
London Adventist Chorale
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
Nobody knows de trouble I've seen Traditional, Composer
Julius Drake, Piano
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
Walk with me Traditional, Composer
Ken Burton, Piano
Ladies' Quartet
Traditional, Composer
I couldn't hear nobody pray Traditional, Composer
Julius Drake, Piano
Ken Burton, Conductor
London Adventist Chorale
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
Let my people go Traditional, Composer
Ken Burton, Conductor
London Adventist Chorale
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
Steal away to Jesus Traditional, Composer
Julius Drake, Piano
London Adventist Chorale
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
'Tis me, O Lord Traditional, Composer
Julius Drake, Piano
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
By and by Traditional, Composer
Ken Burton, Conductor
London Adventist Chorale
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
Gospel train Traditional, Composer
Julius Drake, Piano
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
Good News Traditional, Composer
Ken Burton, Piano
Ladies' Quartet
Traditional, Composer
Ride on, King Jesus Traditional, Composer
Ken Burton, Conductor
London Adventist Chorale
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
Honor, Honor Traditional, Composer
Ken Burton, Conductor
London Adventist Chorale
Ruby Philogene, Mezzo soprano
Traditional, Composer
Dark water Will James, Composer
Ken Burton, Conductor
London Adventist Chorale
Will James, Composer
Listen to the lambs Nathaniel Dett, Composer
Ken Burton, Conductor
London Adventist Chorale
Nathaniel Dett, Composer
Paul Weekes, Tenor
Many will remember the powerful impact made by the London Adventist Chorale, directed by Ken Burton, at the Proms last year and before that their popular CD on Paradisum. The members of the choir are taken from Seventh Day Adventist churches around London. These are actual church choirs and they believe in what they are singing: this message really comes across.
When covering the first volume of the Plymouth Music series called “Witness” (Collins Classics, 9/95), I mentioned the high quality of arrangements of spirituals made by the African-American singer-composer-arranger Harry T. Burleigh, so I was delighted to find seven of his piano settings here. Ruby Philogene, already on CD in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Philips, 12/96), is a real discovery. She has exactly the right emotional quality to suit all the moods of these eloquent songs and dares to take Nobody knows and Steal away very slowly indeed. Sometimes she embellishes Burleigh’s line, always in style, and Burton brings the chorus unobtrusively into the refrains of Steal away with magical effect. (Philogene’s opening consonant at 0'20'' seems to have got lost in an edit.)
There are other period arrangements by Hall Johnson and Nathaniel Dett, not quite on the level of Burleigh’s, whose settings are worth a whole CD on their own – Philogene would be ideal. Then there are Burton’s own arrangements to show that the London Adventist Chorale is part of a continuing tradition in spirituals and gospel. The Ladies Quartet has some fine voices and, with Burton fulsome at the piano, a swinging sense of rhythm.
Well recorded here, although the piano is sometimes favoured in balance, this is the ideal group for this repertoire. It is an enterprising choice for the EMI Debut series and, outstanding in every way, deserves to reach and touch a very large audience. It could and should become a cult CD, like “Canto Gregoriano” or Gorecki’s Third Symphony.'

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