Chatter Sunday sounds mystical
Handbell choir adds otherworldly quality to program
On the conjoined irony of April Fool’s Day and Easter, Chatter Sunday will perform a piece about the burial of the Virgin Mary.
“It’s certainly not a light subject matter,” Chatter associate artistic director and clarinetist James Shields said.
The group’s string quartet and a freshly formed handbell choir will perform English composer Sir John Tavner’s “Last Sleep of the Virgin” at the Las Puertas Event Center.
In a nod to Chatter’s unconventional DIY roots, flutist Jesse Tatum, composer/pianist Luke Gullickson and Shields will ring the bells.
“The handbells and the quartet create this really otherworldly sound,” Shields said, “very mystical. It’s a really beautiful piece.”
The musicians also will perform two pieces by Georg Philipp Telemann. The composer wrote both for two chalumeaux, a Baroque ancestor to the clarinet.
“It’s similar to a recorder,” Shields said. “It’s a small instrument, but it plays a much lower sound than you’d expect.”
Both Telemann works, the Concerto in D minor and the Sonata in F major, are set in four movements with effects, styles and moods ranging from serene to invigorating.
“They both have haunting, mysterious slow passages,” Shields said.
The clarinetist will be joined by the New Mexico Philharmonic’s new principal clarinetist,
Marianne Shifrin. Shields left the orchestra to play principal clarinet with the Oregon Symphony more than a year ago.
“I will keep coming back here as much as I can,” he said. “Chatter’s still very unique.”