Will Todd: Passion Music

Passion Music continues the fusion of jazz and choral music so successfully blended in Will Todd’s Mass in Blue. The structure highlights different points in the Passion story, beginning with a new setting of ‘Greater love has no man’ and including an evocative Stabat Mater, a movement focusing on the seven last words of Christ, and a setting of ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord?’. While some sections are reflective, Todd also makes full use of his understanding of energetic jazz and gospel. The vocal soloist is given plenty of expressive freedom, singing both with the choir and independently to achieve the characteristic jazz-soul style. The seven-piece jazz accompaniment, which is presented in the vocal score as a piano reduction for rehearsal only, completes the ensemble.