This original Passion meditation has been divided by the composer into what he has called eight ikons – each section depicting a particular moment in the events of the Great Week. Such a title invites us to presuppose that they were composed in the spirit of a painter of ikons, who approaches his awesome task with prayer, fasting and meditation. The work is, indeed, intensely spiritual, but also readily accessible in its gentle simplicity to the average listener. The action is carried forward by a series of chanted pericopes from the Gospels, feelingly sung in English to the most basic of reading tones. The opening passage from the Prologue to St John’s Gospel appears again at the very end, to round off the whole plan in the perspective of the Word incarnate. Between these two quiet statements comes the account of the Last Supper, then the Agony in the Garden, the Trial, the Crucifixion, the Deposition from the Cross, the Sealing of the Tomb and the Resurrection. The composer uses techniques of Russian Orthodox liturgical music and also those of other Orthodox traditions.
One striking feature is the use Ivan Moody makes of bells to link the various sections. Often their overtones are in harsh conflict with the usually smooth homophonic harmony that follows. This may jar on the ear, but it reinforces the idea of passion, of the struggle between life and death, of light versus darkness, finally ending in victory. A strange work, filling the uncertain ground between liturgy and drama. But a perfect choice for anyone wishing to penetrate deeply into the meaning of this, the most austere season of the Christian year.'