‘Passion Play Music’ is a new CD of original music written to express aspects of the Easter story in purely musical form. Prophecy Today UK’s Resources Editor Paul Luckraft explains how it came into being and what the CD contains.

The story goes back to my childhood when suddenly, for no apparent reason, I announced to my parents that I wanted to learn the piano. My first lesson was soon booked with a lady down the road and so one day after school I made the short journey to her house, was placed in front of her piano and duly informed where to find ‘middle C’. That’s all I remember of my first lesson!

Lots more followed, of course, and eventually I worked my way successfully through the usual exams until I came to Grade 5 – and failed miserably. At this point my piano teacher confessed she had never taught anyone to that level before and suggested I now move on, which I did, to an elderly gentleman, a short bike ride away.

He was an organist at a local church, had a rather bad-tempered cat and smoked heavily. Despite all the ash over the keyboard, he showed me where I’d gone wrong and before long I passed Grade 5. My parents thanked him by buying him several packets of cigarettes!

Improvisation as Worship

I continued through to Grade 8, by which time I had completed my A Levels, and in my year off before university continued to hack my way through some of the less difficult classical repertoire. It was now clear that my dream of a career as a concert pianist travelling the world earning millions would remain unfulfilled.

However, something extraordinary then happened. I can’t pin it down to a date or explain exactly how, but I found I could improvise. My fingers discovered music that had never been written down (perhaps in some cases, never should be!). My feet found a new freedom on the pedals. Indeed, I felt released into a new musicality, a creativity not known before. It was a joyful experience, and later I came to see this as worship: giving something back to God out of what he had given to me.

Out of this improvisation, pieces began to emerge. When my fingers kept going to the same notes in roughly the same order I would keep playing them through until I was convinced it was a piece. The long and tedious process of trying to notate what I was playing then followed until eventually I had several folders of pieces - just for me, though an occasional charity concert did provide the chance to show off!

Improvisation was a joyful experience which I later came to see as worship: giving something back to God out of what he had given to me.

New Project

Once I’d retired I wondered where this hobby would go next. As part of my travels for Prophecy Today UK I visited a church in Romsey, Hants, where I met another ‘amateur’ musician and composer, Roger Boyce, who had his own studio for arranging and recording. We chatted about the various pieces I had written and he offered to arrange several that he liked.

When asked what they were about, I explained that when I played them I thought of different aspects of the Easter story. He agreed, and so began two years of a project which became known as ‘Passion Play’. I wasn’t fully aware when we started that he had his own record label and music business - I was just happy to hear ‘my’ music in a better form than I already knew, in full orchestral sound.

The Pieces

So here is the result. The music on this CD was originally conceived and written as a series of piano pieces, with one exception: the central piece, ‘Love and Sorrow’, which is Roger’s own and was already written for solo violin and strings. This depiction of standing at the Cross and gazing at the one lifted up seemed to fit better than the piece I had planned for this moment.

The suite opens with ‘Hosanna’, representing the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. This is very different in style and mood from the other pieces and depicts a joyful crowd scene which gathers momentum as Jesus rides into Jerusalem.

Next we move to ‘Gethsemane’ and the prayer in the garden, with its agony and conflict. The music attempts to give a sense of being trapped. There is no alternative, but there is also strength in submission to the will of the Father.

The third piece, ‘Dolorosa’, portrays Jesus’ walk to Calvary, carrying the Cross and surrounded by weeping women. Here is a slow-moving journey with a repeated rhythm in the base and a poignant melody on top.

After ‘Love and Sorrow’, the second section starts with ‘The Burial’. The wrapping of the body and the closing of the tomb are accompanied by tears and sighs. Arranged mainly for strings, this is one of my favourite parts of the whole suite.

The music on this CD was originally composed as a series of piano pieces representing different aspects of the Easter story, now in full orchestral sound.

The last two pieces can be linked. The first of these is called ‘Longing’ and subtitled ‘We Had Hoped’. It expresses the feelings of those who, like the disciples on the Emmaus road, thought all their hopes of finding Messiah had been dashed. The phrase ‘we had hoped’ from this passage is for me one of the saddest parts of Scripture.

But it is not the end. Realisation soon follows that this was Jesus they were with and, like the women who had been to the tomb early that same morning, their experience changes as ‘First Light’ dawns and new joy emerges.

The music lasts just over half an hour in total and is suitable for personal devotion. In part it could be incorporated into a communion service. It is also hoped that the full version might be used as part of a larger creative re-telling of the Passion using images, videos, drama, dance and Bible readings.

Purchase copies of the ‘Passion Play’ CD from Issachar Ministries for £8 including P&P (email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or telephone 01767 223270). Digital version available on the usual platforms as a full album or separate tracks (see ditto.fm/passion-play-music). Listen to snippets below.