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Special offer. Because

Reginald Mobley (counter-tenor), Baptiste Trotignon (piano)

Because

Awards:

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...

BBC Music Magazine, August 20235 out of 5 stars

More reviews

Special offer. Because

Reginald Mobley (counter-tenor), Baptiste Trotignon (piano)

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This release includes a digital booklet

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Awards:

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...

BBC Music Magazine, August 20235 out of 5 stars

More reviews

About

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. As the origin of many musical forms associated with the United States of America, including jazz, gospel, blues, soul, funk, indeed all Afro-American music, the repertoire of 'Spirituals' are true hymns to resilience, whose beauty and strength of both lyrics and music symbolise hope and faith in humanity. This project’s aim is to do justice to this musical heritage and to honour its past performers.

The American countertenor Reginald Mobley, a rising figure in baroque music, notably under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner, 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 and poets in a programme entitled "Because". A gathering of songs arranged or written by composers including H.T. Burleigh and Florence Price, most often re-composed with great freedom by the two performers. Very evocative traditional melodies (such as "Sometimes I feel like a

motherless child", "Deep river" and other anonymous "gospel songs") are mixed with the improvised piano, in an interactive and organic way.

  • Release date: 26th May 2023
  • Label: Alpha
  • Catalogue number: ALPHA936
  • Length: 55 minutes
  • Genre:

Contents and tracklist

anon.: Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
Work length3:10
trad.: Were you there?
Work length3:48
trad.: I Got a Robe
Work length2:35
Trotignon: Why
Work length2:29
Price, F: Because
Work length1:58
trad.: Steal away
Work length3:40
trad.: Save Me Lord, Save Me
Work length2:05
trad.: Bright Sparkles in the Churchyard
Work length4:07
trad.: Nobody knows the trouble I seen
Work length3:38
Price, F: Resignation
Work length3:23
anon.: A Great Campmeetin'
Work length2:53
Price, F: Sunset
Work length2:16
trad.: My Lord, What a Mornin'
Work length4:13
Harry Burleigh: Jean
Work length3:11
anon.: By an’ by / There is a Balm in Gilead (Arr. for Countertenor and Piano by Baptiste Trotignon and Harry Burleigh)
Work length4:56
Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield: I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Work length3:08
anon.: Deep river
Work length3:47

Spotlight on this release

Awards and reviews

August 2023

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.
5 out of 5 stars

August 2023

'Steal Away' 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.

25th May 2023

They make an unusual pairing but their thought-through sequence works thanks to Mobley’s poised, easy delivery, every word telling – he sounds ruffled only in the fastest, lowest songs – and playing from Trotignon that moves fluidly between any number of pop and jazz styles.
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