Spirituals

Leon Bosch – double bass
Rebeca Omordia – piano

18 Negro Spirituals

Leon Bosch describes the circumstances that crystallized in this production:

My introduction to Negro Spirituals was thanks to Rebeca Omordia. I played a few South African folk songs in her African Concert Series, and based on that she thought that the spirituals would suit me. She gave me a collection of five, arranged for baritone and piano. I transcribed these for double bass, and we first performed them live on Radio 3. That led to the idea of a CD recording and I began to look for more….and there are huge collections available online, in various guises: solo voice, choral arrangements, piano solo, instrumental arrangements etc. Then I had to find ones that resonated with me – and would work on the bass.