1 CD |
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Notify when available |
Label Signum Classics |
UPC 0635212008324 |
Catalogue number SIGCD 083 |
Release date 01 August 2006 |
Mass in Blue, performed by ‘one of the most accomplished small choral groups of our time’ (Gramophone), is a brilliant blend of driving jazz grooves and clear, strong, choral writing against which the solo piano and solo soprano voice weave and blend in a delightful aural tapestry.
Leading young composer Will Todd performs a unique fusion of sacred choral music and jazz in his Mass in Blue. This central work is complemented by beautiful musical settings of religious texts, infused with a highly individual and melodic style, bringing the composer’s lifelong love of traditional choral music into the 21st century with spiritual sensitivity and a contemporary edge.
Spirituele gevoeligheid en een hedendaags randje
Mass in Blue, uitgevoerd door een van de meest talentvolle kleine koorensembles van onze tijd is een briljante vermenging van krachtige jazz grooves met een heldere, sterke koorstijl waar tegenover de piano en sopraanstem prachtig samenklinken.
De vooraanstaande jonge componist Will Todd voert een unieke samenstelling uit van religieuze koormuziek en jazz in zijn Mass in Blue. Dit centrale werk wordt aangevuld door prachtige muzikale omlijstingen van religieuze teksten in een zeer individuele en melodieuze stijl. Daarbij wordt de grote liefde voor traditionele koormuziek van de componist naar de 21e eeuw gebracht met spirituele gevoeligheid en een hedendaags randje.
Will Todd taught himself the piano from an early age and grew up in County Durham, North East England where his grandfather was a coal miner and his parents were teachers. His love of improvising has been the central force in a wide ranging career of composing and playing. Will has worked with many of the UK’s leading music organisations including Welsh National Opera, Opera North, The Halle Orchestra, Opera Holland Park, The Sixteen, The BBC Singers and the BBC Concert Orchestra. He has also visited many countries performing and directing his music.
His love of choral music is reflected in a large output including masses, anthems and larger sacred concert works including Mass in Blue, which has been performed hundreds of times around the world since its 2003 premiere. His carol My Lord Has Come has become a worldwide favourite since it was included in Oxford University Press’s Carols for Choirs Five in 2012. Other widely performed choral pieces include Passion Music, Jazz MIssa Brevis and his arrangement of Amazing Grace. Will Todd also has an impressive list of theatre works including The Screams of Kitty Genovese, produced most recently by Tête à Tête Opera in London and Edinburgh, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Christmas Carol for Opera Holland Park, Migrations for Welsh National Opera and Song of our Heartland, commissioned by Opera North.
Will Todd is president and patron of a number of UK choirs. He strongly believes in music making for all, and his personal motto when directing choirs is ‘find the passion’. His music is published by Oxford University Press, Boosey and Hawkes and Tyalgum Press and released on Signum Records. Further information at www.willtodd.co.uk