Because

 
Because cover
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FLORENCE PRICE / HARRY BURLEIGH / BARRETT STRONG / NORMAN WHITFIELD / BAPTISTE TROTIGNON / etc
Because
Reginald Mobley (counter-tenor) Baptiste Trotignon (piano)

[ Alpha Classics / CD ]

Release Date: Friday 26 May 2023

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During the long era when Bach, Mozart and Beethoven were creating the musical canon of Western Europe, the songs of African slaves resounded in the colonies on the other side of the Atlantic, expressing pain and longing, but also joy and the desire for freedom. The American countertenor Reginald Mobley - a rising figure in baroque music, notably under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner with whom he sings very regularly - and the French pianist Baptiste Trotignon, winner of numerous awards (Victoires du Jazz, Django d'Or) have combined their talents and sensibilities to celebrate these spirituals and the music of Black composers including Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949) and Florence Price (1887-1953), whose beautiful transcriptions and melodies blend with Baptiste Trotignon's subtle arrangements of the famous Sometimes I feel like a motherless child or I got a robe... The melody "Because", composed by Florence Price on a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar, inspired the title of the album: Because I had loved so hard (...) Because I had loved so vainly... Why this album? Because...

"For all its beauty, the album also feels like a call to action. The horrors of racial violence cannot be separated from this repertoire, and a sense of urgent injustice is brought home by these performances of dignity and power." BBC Music Choral and Song Choice August 2023

"[Steal Away] is, for me, the highlight of the disc and where text, melody, arrangement, voice and piano all combine for a few minutes of heart-stopping beauty. Likewise 'Deep river', the final track, is most touchingly done by both artists." Gramophone

Grammy Awards 66th Awards (2024)
Nominee - Best Classical Solo Vocal Album

Tracks:

01. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child 3:10
02. Were You There? 3:48
03. I Got a Robe 2:35
04. Why 2:29
05. Because 1:58
06. Steal Away 3:40
07. Save Me Lord, Save Me 2:05
08. Bright Sparkles in the Churchyard 4:07
09. Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen 3:38
10. Resignation 3:23
11. A Great Campmeetin' 2:53
12. Sunset 2:16
13. My Lord, What a Morning 4:13
14. Jean 3:11
15. By an' by / There is a Balm in Gilead 4:56
16. I Heard It Through the Grapevine 3:08
17. Deep River 3:47