… Steal away, steal away home, I ain't got long to stay here..
Richard Phillips here provides a simple unaccompanied setting of the wonderful spiritual Steal Away. High placed unison verses for the soprano and tenor contrast with the rich harmonies of the chorus, spreading out from a single Ab. The second rendering of “the trumpet sounds” goes into 8 parts and provides a climax from which the remainder of the arrangement winds down, ending with a free setting of the words “Steal away to Jesus”, with basses descending down an Ab major scale, to bring the piece to rest.
