for mixed voices (SATB) & piano, with optional jazz ensemble
Text: English
Difficulty: 4/5

1. Come down, O Love divine (Down Ampney)
2. God is Love/Love Divine (Blaenwern)
3. Let all mortal flesh keep silence (Picardy)

These jazz arrangements of well-known hymns were written for Andrew Earis and choirs of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London for various services and BBC broadcasts from that church. The setting of Come down, O Love divine supplies some new harmonic moves to Vaughan Williams’ lovely tune Down Ampney, gradually adding vocal harmony through the verses, with a short descant section in the final verse. The compound-time arrangement of God is Love, which can also be sung to the supplied words of Charles Wesley’s hymn Love Divine, again adds more of Todd’s iconic jazz harmonies and textures in the vocal parts with each successive verse. The setting of Let all mortal flesh keep silence is structured to gradually build layers over the moody piano chords and the pedal harmony. At the end the music builds to a large climax for ‘Lord most high’. The hymns can be performed using the supplied piano part or embellished using the chord symbols above. Double bass may also be used in addition to piano, again following the supplied chord symbols, and parts for optional jazz ensemble are available here. Performers of these hymns should feel free to include the congregation or audience in imaginative ways.

Will Todd
English composer and performer Will Todd is well known for his beautiful and exciting music, encompassing choral works large and small, opera, musical theatre and orchestral pieces, as well as jazz compositions and chamber works. Best known for his choral works, his Mass in Blue has been performed hundreds of times by choirs all around the world. Notable smaller works for choir include the anthem The Lord is my shepherd, available for both upper and mixed voices, and his arrangement of Amazing Grace, which was performed at President Obama’s Inauguration Day prayer service and as part of the BBC’s Nelson Mandela Thanksgiving Service. He has collaborated with award winning choirs The Sixteen and Tenebrae, as well as with the BBC Singers and Concert Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Opera Holland Park, Welsh National Opera, Opera North, The Bach Choir, St Martin’s Voices and the Genesis Foundation. Will’s music continues to be in demand by performers amateur and professional, and he enjoys a busy international schedule of commissions, performances and conducting appearances.