Mass in Blue

Will Todd’s Mass in Blue, a brilliant blend of driving jazz grooves and clear, strong, choral writing woven against solo soprano and piano piano and solo soprano voices to produce a delightful and inspiring aural tapestry.

The Mass in Blue is the climax to a concert that leads the audience through the works of various composers from Vaughan Williams to Gjeilo, each exploring different musical styles and harmonic structures that illustrate the power and emotion of the human voice. There is humour too with the concert opening with Bernstein's Choral Warm-up Canon originally written as a warm-up for singing his Mass.

The 'Dark Eyed Sailor' and 'The Lover's Ghost' by Vaughan Williams, published in 1913, take us back to a time when songs were sung as part of the common culture, at work, in the street, in the home and in the pubs. We have Vaughan Williams to thank for preserving so much of England's folk songs and making them accessible through his much loved arrangements.

Chansons move onto more modern choral repertoire by performing pieces by Whitacre, Esenvalds and Gjeilo; now global names with their compositions being applauded for their beauty and elegance.

As a prelude to Todd's Mass in Blue we have Gershwin's entertaining and much loved 'Fascinating Rhythm' that gives us a hint of the jazz styles explored by Todd in his Mass.

Todd's Mass in Blue reflects his love of jazz music, admiration of jazz performers, and also his own experience as an improviser. It allows Todd to make use of his extensive choral skills which he deploys so effectively in works such as the oratorios The Burning Road (Op 10) and Saint Cuthbert (Op 7) or the chorus writing of his opera The Blackened Man. Mass in Blue is a confident work by a composer who understands and responds to the jazz idiom, making free use of the 12 bar blues sequence (which has been fundamental in the development of jazz music) as well as more complex harmonic processes.

The full programme is:

1. Choral Warm-up Canon – Bernstein

2. Seal Lullaby – Whitacre

3. From Vaughan Williams' 5 English Folk Songs:

i. Dark Eyed Sailor

ii. The Lover’s Ghost

4. Autumn - Gjeilo

5. Only in Sleep – Esenvalds

6. Shenandoah – arr. James Erb

7. The Rose – Todd

8. Fascinating Rhythm – Gershwin arr. Saunders

Interval

9. Mass in Blue - Todd

We look forward to sharing an exciting musical evening with you on Saturday September 20th in St John's Kirk.

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