John Psathas Complete Works (chronological order)

Call of the Wild 2 He Can Worship It Without Believing It (with Adam Page) 2021

Call of the Wild 1 She Stands at the Edge of the Incomprehensible (with Adam Page) 2021

The All Seeing-Sky
Concerto for two percussionists and orchestra
by Ioannis John Psathas
2021

Duration 22m

Written for - and dedicated to - Fabian Ziegler and Luca Staffelbach.

Commissioned by Orchestra Wellington (New Zealand), the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (New Zealand), and City Lights Concerts (Switzerland)

In resistance to the fireworks-driven mega-spectacle of recent percussion concertos (some of which I’ve written myself), I’ve scored this work for a Mozart-sized orchestra and limited the solo parts to no more than marimba (soloist 1) and vibraphone (soloist 2).

There are three movements:
1. The Portals of Dis
2. The Upper World
3. The All-Seeing Sky

This concerto is inspired by a number of interwoven concepts. The phrase The All-Seeing Sky refers to both the omnipresent technological surveillance of the 21st century, and the ‘other’ omnipresence, God in his/her/its/their myriad historical chroniclings. 

Gustave Doré’s spellbinding illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy inspired the first two movements. The Portals of Dis depicts the (imagined) inner realisation that one is actually being ferried across the river Styx, to arrive – with a great welcoming fanfare – at the gates of Dis. The musical language of this movement is evocative of antiquity, particularly ancient Greece.

After having traversed the many levels of hell the travellers in Dante’s Inferno find the hidden road that provides the way back to The Upper World – and emerge back into our world, the bright world. The unsettled nature of the ending of this movement suggests that the world we live in now has more than a passing resemblance to hell as we imagine it.

The role of the two soloists in this concerto is fluid. At times the soloists play in virtuosic unison, and sometimes their two instruments are treated as one ‘meta-instrument’. Often the two soloists are foreground drivers of the music, other times they are equal partners with the orchestra. And sometimes they take on a background role of accompanying the orchestra (at the end of second movement, for example, the two soloists are providing a warm, quietly supporting and loving minimalist underpinning for the orchestra’s final utterances).

The All-Seeing Sky 3 The All-Seeing Sky (original composer demo) 2022

The All-Seeing Sky 2 The Upper World (original composer demo) 2022

The All-Seeing Sky 1 The Portals Of Dis (original composer demo) 2022

Dreams of Twilight

Dreams of Twilight 2- Once More, My Heart (original composer demo) 2021

Dreams of Twilight 1 - Come Dance, My Love (original composer demo) 2021

https://www.jpsathas.com/music/100-seconds-from-midnight

100 Seconds From Midnight (original composer demo) 2020

Burgmuller Etude

Jupiter And Venus (pianoteq) 2022

Pharaoh 1 Pharoah (original composer demo) 2023

Sphinx 01 Sandstorm (original composer demo) 2023

La Cuna 1

La Cuna 2

La Cuna 3

More information about this piece here:
https://www.jpsathas.com/music/4by4 

Performance Materials here:
https://store.prometheaneditions.com/products/4by4

4BY4 (composer's original MIDI demo)

Full of Sympathy (with David Downes) 1987

Begin (with David Downes) 1987

Law of Gravity (with David Downes) 1987

Silent Partner (with David Downes) 1987

We Lie Here (with David Downes and Delia Shanly) 1987

Omnifenix 2000

Relentless (original composer demo) 2022

Second_Hand Time Part 1 - The Nature of Reality (original composer demo) 2022

Second_Hand Time Part 3 - The Aesthetics of Violence (original composer demo) 2022

Shiva Brahma (with Jack Hooker) 2024

I Borrow Moonlight For This Journey of a Million Miles (original composer demo) 2025

Angelus (piano trio) original composer demo 2025

a new work for 8 percussionists and piano

Cloud Folk (8 percussionists and piano) Original Composer Demo 2017

John Psathas

Athens Olympics Fireworks 2004

Athens Olympics Pirogov 2004

Athens Olympics Oaths 2004

Athens Olympics Sta Pervolia 2004

Athens Olympics President's walk and speech 2004

Leviathan 1 Hightailin' To Hell 2020

Atalanta (vibraphone, piano, and audio) original composer demo 2020

Te Papa Fanfare (NZSO cond. Hamish McKeich)

My sax concerto premiered in Bologna by Michael Brecker on August 2nd, 2000.

Omnifenix (original performance by Michael Brecker)

This is a score I created for the eBook version of Salman Rushdie's short story "In The South". Adapted here into 1 continuos track.

In The South (eBook soundtrack with Salman Rushdie) 2011

John Psathas

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