Views
4 years ago

Abhisheka for string orchestra (Preview)

  • Text
  • String
  • Orchestra
  • Psathas
by John Psathas | String Orchestra

concerto, Zahara, which

concerto, Zahara, which he first performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Atherton, at the Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand on 22 September 2006. In 2008, Chamber Music New Zealand commissioned Psathas to write a string quartet, A Cool Wind, for the world renown Takács Quartet, who presented the first performance in the Auckland Town Hall, Auckland, New Zealand on 23 July 2008. Psathas’ recent career highlights include the creation of key ceremonial music for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and more recently Zeibekiko, an entire programme of music celebrating the heritage of Greek music from antiquity and the present day. Zeibekiko was commissioned by the Eduard van Beinum Foundation at the request of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble and toured Holland in 2004. It was a highlight of both the 2004 Bath Festival (UK) and the 2006 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts. Psathas’ inclination to work in a collaborative capacity with artists from a wide range of musical genres and backgrounds has resulted in projects such as Elect the Dead Symphony with Serj Tankian, and Pounamu with New Zealand roots musician Warren Maxwell. In 2011, Psathas produced his first film score for the feature-film, Good for Nothing, and further film music followed with White Lies in 2013. Psathas’ involvement with Booktrack—a company focused on developing synchronised soundtracks for eBooks—saw the opportunity to write music for the Salman Rushdie novel, In the South. Psathas has received a number of awards and honours, including twice winning the SOUNZ Contemporary APRA Silver Scroll Award (2002 and 2004) for individual works and taking three Classical CD of the Year awards (2000, 2004 and 2007) in the NZ Music Awards. In 2003 he was made a New Zealand Arts Foundation Laureate and in 2005 was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM). In 2014 Victoria University of Wellington awarded Psathas a Higher Doctorate in the degree of Doctor of Music (DMus) for the immense body of work he has contributed to his field. Latest information about the composer may be found at www.johnpsathas.com. PE175 – iv

Abhisheka (1996/2008 ) Drafted immediately after reading a book by the Buddhist guru Chögyam Trungpa, Abhisheka was my first-ever attempt at writing music with space in it. Until this piece, practically everything I had written was ultra-caffeinated, fast, full of notes, and murder on the performers. But having been (albeit temporarily) inspired by the great truths and peace in Trungpa’s writing, I found myself navigating slower passages of musical time, as well as exploring the microcosm of inner space between intervals of our tempered chromatic scale. John Psathas The string orchestra arrangement of Abhisheka was premiered by the Auckland Chamber Orchestra at the Auckland Town Hall, New Zealand on 28 September, 2008. Performance notes This score features quarter tone notation. Whilst standard accidentals are placed in the usual manner, to apply throughout the entire measure in which they appear, quarter-tone accidentals are placed before every note to which they apply. s – raise note three-quarters of a tone # – raise note half a tone ß – raise note quarter of a tone ƒ – lower note quarter of a tone b – lower note half a tone F – lower note three-quarters of a tone • All glissandi last for the duration of the note on which they begin, and unless specifically indicated otherwise, no bow change is intended after a glissando. PE175 – v

Score Library

String String Orchestra Psathas