Scored for: SATB (with divisions) & piano
Duration: 5 minutes 30
Level: Challenging
Other info: This sombre and evocative Stabat Mater is taken from Passion Music, a concert and liturgical work that continues Todd's fusion of jazz and choral music so successfully blended in his Mass in Blue. The delicate piano part often falls away to spiritual a cappella sections, and a soaring line for solo soprano rises out of the texture to draw the setting to a close.
Oxford University Press has made this movement from Will Todd's larger work Passion Music available for independent performance . . . The soprano solo (or semi-chorus) is more straight-laced than the solo writing in other movements of Passion Music, which requires a singer familiar with gospel style. In all regards, this movement is the section of the larger work that most suggests autonomous use by a traditional church choir . . . Given the ubiquity of this text, having a jazz flavored setting as an alternative to other settings makes this a useful addition to libraries.
Jason Overall, Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians, May 2019
A recording of Stabat Mater from Passion Music is available on the album Passion Music and Jazz Missa Brevis on Signum Classics label here
Vocal Score: ISBN: 9780193524835
Available to purchase from good music shops. Stabat Mater is published by Oxford University Press.