Scored for: Large SATB choir, soprano and bass soloists & full orchestra
Level: Challenging
Duration: 34 minutes
Other Info: Will Todd's Choral Symphony No. 2 (The Burning Road) with libretto by Ben Dunwell was commissioned by the Northampton Bach Choir in 1996 and is a Cantata based on the 1936 Jarrow March.
A recording of The Burning Road will soon be available as a digital download on the Tyalgum label.
“...Todd's operatic experience ... gives it enough dramatic clout to draw the listener into the plight, hope and eventual disillusionment of the Marchers.” David Blewitt/ Opera/ 2000
“Todd's lyrical and serious language is fully in evidence in The Burning Road. This is only secondarily a political and nostalgic document. First and foremost it is a work of smoking sincerity and bitter heroic determination. A protest work but one that never loses touch with musical values.” Rob Barnett/ MusicWeb/ 1999
”[The Burning Road's] music is a gift for singing - paying dues to Messiaen, Vaughan Williams, Britten - but alive and energised and packing an emotional punch. Todd is someone who has begun to make a name for himself in community and West End contexts but is still waiting for his moment. It will come. The Burning Road is more than half way there.” Michael White/ The Independent on Sunday/ 1999
“If today's music can roughly be divided between the fiercely complex and that aiming for a wider appeal, the Durham-born Todd's is firmly of the latter, his technical accomplishments craftily subsumed into the larger dramatic sweep.” Thomas Hall/ The Journal, Newcastle / 1997
When ordering please select the sheet music format in the drop down menu below.
Music is available as a hard copy or a downloadable PDF with a license to make a single copy.
The full score of this work and instrumental parts are available on request. Please contact us for more information.