On Saturday morning, March 4, at the Cathedral of St. John, Friends of Cathedral Music, under the artistic direction of Canon Dr. Maxine Thévenot (organist), will present “Encountering the Spirit,” an ambitious program capped by the Albuquerque premiere of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize–winning Voiceless Mass, by composer Raven Chacon, a member of the Diné nation who has deep roots in the metro area.

Commissioned by WI Conference of the United Church of Christ, Plymouth Church UCC, and Present Music, an organization dedicated to presenting contemporary music, Voiceless Mass was composed specifically for the Nichols & Simpson organ at The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee. This profoundly spiritual work for pipe organ and ensemble (flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, two percussionists, strings, and sine tones) premiered on November 21, 2021, as part of the cathedral’s Thanksgiving celebration.

Though Chacon typically declines Thanksgiving invitations, which he feels are tainted with tokenism, the enthusiasm and character of Present Music overcame his skepticism and won his trust. “They were saying we’re going to do this in the church, and there’s an organ in there,” says Chacon. “I said I want to write a piece for the organ in the church. That’s how that began. I have to respond to that then. I have to respond to the history of the church. Myself growing up semi-Catholic, it’s an opportunity to talk about things that have happened, about atrocities that institution has caused. If I’m an Indigenous composer being given that opportunity, I have to respond to it.”

Voiceless Mass responds with a penetrating and moving meditation on dislocation and loss. While there is no choir, the music is peopled with ghosts, silenced voices that bear witness to an often horrifying history. In his submission to the Pulitzer Prize Board, Chacon described the piece this way: “This work considers the spaces in which we gather, the history of access of these spaces, and the land upon which these buildings sit. . . . In exploiting the architecture of the cathedral, Voiceless Mass considers the futility of giving voice to the voiceless, when ceding space is never an option for those in power.”

Chacon notes, however, that each musician in the ensemble, which is scattered around the space, has a “voice” that only they can hear. For example, the violist is instructed to play a note too softly to be audible to others, and a percussionist is asked to say something of their choosing sotto voce. At the very end, a percussionist mimics the human voice by bowing a cymbal on the timpani head. “Of course the organ has a breath,” he says. “It’s able to resonate and speak loudly in the hall. At the same time, while it’s overtaking all the other voices in the ensemble, it just waits in the background.”

In composing the work, Chacon says he was deeply conscious of the tradition of music in the church. It could contribute to the uplifting, perhaps, of the congregation, but it could also be used to manipulate and influence people. His intent was to mimic that experience to stimulate thought about the building, the land it occupies, and what it might represent to the voiceless mass of people who have struggled under the weight of church history. Voiceless Mass floats above that weight even as it communicates the heft of the cathedral and the culture it represents.

Pulling it together
Anything having to do with the organ is likely to show up on Dr. Thévenot’s social media feeds, and last May, when she learned that Chacon had won the Pulitzer Prize for a piece that includes the organ, she quickly wrote to the composer, who responded the next day. “Within 24 hours of that,” says Thévenot, “I had an MP3 recording and a copy of the score.” Soon after, she and Chacon settled on a date for the Albuquerque performance.

In developing the program around Voiceless Mass, Thévenot worked outward from the musicians and instrumentation required for that piece. She found a wide variety of compositions that are “equally evocative but complement Voiceless Mass,” she says. Included in the program are
Distance, Micheal Barnes (for solo five-octave marimba and crotales)
Quartet for the End of Time (movements 3, 4, and 5), Olivier Messiaen (for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano)
Prelude and Allegro for Organ and Strings, Walter Piston
Black Anemones, Joseph Schwantner (for flute and piano)
Flicker, Michel Galante (for clarinet and piano)

David Felberg will conduct the Piston and Chacon pieces. As artistic director of Chatter, which has commissioned compositions from Chacon, Felberg is well acquainted with the composer’s work. “I’ve always been really taken in by his really unique language and sound world,” he says. “We’ve had a really good relationship with him over the years.”

Hearing a recording of the Milwaukee performance, Felberg was impressed with how Chacon integrated the space of the cathedral in the composition. “It’s a really compelling piece,” he says.

With the musicians spread out through the venue, the piece presents some unique challenges to the conductor. “Just getting everything to sound the way it needs to,” says Felberg. “We’re so used to playing together all bunched up on a stage, so that’s a particular challenge for sure. It’s really a balance thing, to make sure that you get a sense of space.”

Intentional space and programming
Along with its Reuter organ, the large, resonant space of the Cathedral of St. John plays an integral role in Voiceless Mass, and the cathedral’s collection of renowned Charles J. Connick stained glass, the largest in the United States, adds a uniquely beautiful visual element for listeners.

For Thévenot, Voiceless Mass and the space itself invite self-reflection and led her to program compositions that look inward. That, in turn, led her to the program’s title, “Encountering the Spirit.”

“I was searching for something that could encompass people who aren’t necessarily connected to the church, who find the spirit in the breath of the wind or the beautiful blue sky, or find it in the quiet of a canyon,” she says. “I was searching for something that leads to the internal and the beauty of the internal, encountering something deep within.”

She hopes, she says, that people come away from the “musical experience feeling very much changed.”

Encountering the Spirit
Saturday, March 4, 10:30 a.m.
Preconcert conversation with Raven Chacon, 9:30 a.m.
Cathedral of St. John
318 Silver Ave. SW, Albuquerque
Tickets: $20
For tickets or more information, go here.

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© 2023 Mel Minter