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One Study One Summary

  • Text
  • Percussion
  • Marimba
  • Psathas
by John Psathas | Marimba, Junk Percussion and Digital Audio

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. PE087 – iv

One Study One Summary (2005, 2008) A favourite among virtuosic solo percussionists, Psathas’ One Study One Summary is a cutting-edge work that is, as the title suggests, cast in two movements. Following a preoccupation with larger-scale works, Psathas returned to the composition of extended works for smaller instrumental forces for One Study One Summary, writing it for Pedro Carneiro and taking advantage of Carneiro’s collection of “junk percussion”. While the work exhibits the ‘busy’ motoric textures for which Psathas is well-known, reflective, atmospheric textures predominate throughout. The electronic sounds and beats in the digital audio part provide an evocative palette for the live percussionist to interact with. One Study One Summary was commissioned by Pedro Carneiro with funding support from Creative New Zealand. Carneiro gave the premiere performance of the work in a concert of music by Xenakis and Psathas at the Purcell Room, South Bank Centre, London during the Rhythm Sticks Festival on 16 July 2005. A recording of One Study One Summary appears alongside other chamber works by Psathas on the Rattle album Helix (RAT-D018). Performance notes One Study One Summary include parts for digital audio, cues for which are shown on the smaller staves in the score. The digital audio parts are found in the digital download file which is to be downloaded from the publisher. Each movement is on a separate track. This work may be performed in two forms; live marimba and junk percussion, with audio, or live marimba only, with audio. Two versions of the digital audio are included for this purpose. Tracks 1–2, including junk percussion, are for use by percussionists who wish to perform the marimba part only. Tracks 3–4, which do not include junk percussion, for use by percussionists who wish to play both marimba and junk percussion parts. The digital download also contains a reference mix of One Study One Summary, with both digital audio part and a synthesised version of the performer’s part. PE087 – v

Score Library

Percussion Marimba Psathas