Todd was commissioned by composer Jake Runestad to write a text for Cal State Long Beach choral conductor Jonathan Talberg on the loss of his fiancé Germán. "And So I Go On" is an a cappella song of love and grief, written for divided choir.
Half the choir takes the voice of the living, and half takes the voice of the departed.
The result is a dialogue of mourning and loss, hope and healing. The audience is offered the opportunity to understand death from two disparate and yet mutually supportive perspectives. Available for SATB from JR Music.
The project marks Todd first collaboration with Jake Runestad, for whom he would go on to write ten more texts over the next ten years. And its empathic attention to Talberg as the commissioner owes its depth and sensitivity to Todd's work as a poet for hire, which evolved into a podcast, There's a Poem in That.
"And So I Go On" was featured on the Grammy-nominated Conspirare album The Hope of Loving in 2019 (Delos).
Todd and Jake perfectly encapsulated my experience of loss after Germán’s passing.
From deep grief, to tragic rage, to my first glimmers of hope, "And So I Go On" is a deeply moving tribute to the man I loved.
It is much more than I'd hoped it would be.
— Jonathan Talberg, conductor, CSU Bob Cole Conservatory Choir
To commission Todd or Jake to write for your orchestra or choir, use the contact form on the About page of this site.
This text began as an adaptation of two poems by Pablo Neruda. The adaptations became looser and looser until there was nothing left of the originals. There's something poetic in the fact that this work emerged from two to become one. I'm grateful to Jonathan Talberg for bringing this commission to Jake and me, beginning what promises to be a lifelong friendship.
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