Call of the Wild 2 He Can Worship It Without Believing It

Call of the Wild 1 She Stands at the Edge of the Incomprehensible

Call of the Wild 3 Tramontane

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

The All - Seeing Sky 1 The Portals Of Dis

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

100 Seconds From Midnight Reference Mix

Burgmuller Etude

Pharoah 1 Pharoah

05 Fury Reference Mix

04 Dynasty Reference Mix

03 The Empty Box Reference Mix

02 Giza Sunrise Reference Mix

01 Sandstorm Reference Mix

Infinite Mind 2 NOAM

Infinite Mind 1 TERMINAL

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)

01 Shiva Sleeps from Between Zero and One

Mantis (with Drew Menzies and Reuben Bradley) 2012 5 9 Out of 10 Out of Its

Mantis (with Drew Menzies and Reuben Bradley) 2012 6 Mansfield (Street)

Mantis (with Drew Menzies and Reuben Bradley) 2012 7 Mantis & Muscles

Mantis (with Drew Menzies and Reuben Bradley) 2012 8 Man's Life

Mantis (with Drew Menzies and Reuben Bradley) 2012 9 Oh Lord!

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Cloud Folk (8 percussionists and piano)

Mentacide occurs when you willingly think and act out of someone else's interpretation of reality to their benefit and against your survival. It is a state of subtle insanity which, over the last few hundred years, has come to characterize (us) more and more........

mentacide
an  erasure  of  historical  memory  
a  deadening  form  of  historical  and  social  amnesia  has  taken  over    
extreme  violence  and  inequality  are  normalized
the  marginalized  are  considered  entirely  disposable
y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?  y?
the  swindle  of  fulfilment

Mentacide Full Reference Mix

Midi performance of 2019 work for Alexej Gerassimez and Signum Saxophone Quartet.

Cononectome

2 Farewell to Flesh

1 Her Alchemy

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

Soundtrack to a happy life

Adam Page & Ronny Ferella "Soundtrack to a happy life" 2010

Leviathan 1 Hightailin' To Hell

Atalanta for vibraphone, piano, and audio

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

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