This piece was commissioned by Leonie Klein, for performance by Isao Nakamura and herself.
During the period of time when both countries - Germany where Leonie lives and UK where I live - were in lockdown due to the pandemic, we had hours and hours to discuss and experiment via internet to develop this work. I always aim for something opposite to what one might expect. Two percussionists - star percussionists - in a new music concert. I imagined the most obvious scenario would be a forest of percussion instruments and a lot of loud playing. Often composers do things like that. So I decided to go super small.
How small could I go for two percussionists? Leonie and I discussed and experimented for hours. Then we came up with the answer...finger cymbals! Two pairs each, so four pairs in total. I was adamant that we would stick with these except in the last “surprise” section. I wanted to exhaust all the performance possibilities offered by these little fingertip instruments. So Chattering Birds is perhaps simulatneously the smallest yet most epic piece.
Dai Fujikura (edited by Alison Phillips)