Tippett Five Negro Spirituals - Steal Away

[olliemelodeonman]

The moment when the sops hit the top A is mildly orgasmic. Sends shivers every time we sing it.

[artsylovelylady]

@olliemelodeonman That comment is not respectful of African American history and the suffering of the slaves who sang this song. The slaves sang this song to express that they were about to escape slavery either by running away or by death. It is a spiritual song of great longing that deserves reverence for past struggles, hope and sadness, not a tool to get your orgasm.

[olliemelodeonman]

@artsylovelylady It is only a figure of speech, and perhaps not the best chosen one, but I wasn't being serious. I'm not religious, so I view this piece from a purely musical perspective, and that moment is totally and utterly glorious.

[Shehoomustnotbenamed]

Were also doing this :)

[activedawg]

This is great. Chords are locked in nicely. I'm not sure there should ever be a rolled 'r' in a Spiritual.  Nice though.

[gqwestcoast]

we need black jesus

[alfreddixon1]

The opening portion of this performance is magnificent. Too bad that could be maintained throughout the entire song. The tenors were much over powering for this venue. I'll bet in another venue, the entire performance would have been powerful!

[utopianconstruction]

I don't see any black people in the choir.

[fungirl1950]

You're right. I don't also.

[Kubrick8Fanatic]

@utopianconstruction So?

[Aristede]

The reverb is a bit too much for this particular piece, but that's the acoustic of the church. I remember hearing this and the other four Negro spirituals Tippett arranged in his oratorio "A Child of Our Time" with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis some years ago. Tippett has surely arranged this spiritual beautifully.

[chikaglow]

I wish I had the privldge of hearing this live. stunning.

[bola69tito]

JUST BEAUTIFUL

[wolfdragon100]

oh wow, good job.  When I started to watch, the church reminded me of a church I was in in Krakow, Poland; do you remember the name and place of that church you're in? It would be amazing if it were the same place.

[watram1]

I absolutely adore the tenor solo.

[populousfreak]

I love this piece

It's our school's tour song.

We never fail to make the audience, and the performers, cry.

Especially when we sing it on the deck of the ferry going home. First the leavers start crying, they set everyone else off...

So for me this is a highly emotional song. And so beautiful...

<3

[Argyrakis]

what an accoustic

[jerk86nyv]

Ehh .. Do you have Deep river with Five negro spirituals? Would be great if you added it!

[lna4cta]

cool first comment! wow this church is an echo chamber, almost too much, even for this style of music. it's beautifully done though