Four Passion Meditations

Bob Chilcott's mighty setting of words from the Gospel of St John is a dramatic yet optimistic retelling of the Passiontide story. As with Bach's great Passion settings the role of the Evangelist is taken by the tenor soloist who provides a melodious narrative throughout the work in arioso style. The words of Jesus and Pilate are performed by solo baritones. Within the narrative the SATB chorus becomes a crowd or a group of soldiers commenting on the story in short outbursts although the larger role of the choir is to perform the four meditations and five hymns that support the story. For the meditations-two of whichinclude soprano solos-Chilcott has selected English poems from the 13th to the early 17th centuries.The five well-known hymn texts are set to new original melodies which are also intended for performance by an audience or congregation.

For solo Cello Timpani and Strings.Popule Meus was commissioned through the Magnum Opus project: Kathryn Gould founding patron and commissioner and Meet the Composer project manager.It was first performed on 6thFebruary 2010 by Yuri Hooker (cello) and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Micklethwate. Composer's Notes 'Popule Meus is a meditation on the Judaic and Christian text ?O my People whathave I done to you?? but itis also a Universalist contemplation of the wholesale rejection of God by modern man. However much manrejects God he cannot escape Him and indeed he is condemned to the supernatural by his deiformnature. InHindu terms he is the Absolute Ayam Atma Brahma (The Self is the Absolute).In this work the solo cello is the All-Compassionate One while the timpani represent man in his vain andpointless rejection. Although the solocello and strings and the timpani share the same material (four ideas aregradually revealed and they revolve four times during the piece) the timpani music is violent and becomesincreasingly frenzied and contracted while thecello and strings remain still and serene.So even in winning the Darkness loses and even in losing the Light wins. Passion Resurrection andRedemption; or in Hindu terms Atma (The Absolute) alone is real Maya (The Relative) ismerely illusion.'

Over 100 compositions by jazz saxophone great John Coltrane