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A Viola on Skye was inspired by a trip to Scotland that included a stay on the Isle of Skye in the depths of winter. The initial sketches for the work were made at the time, influenced by the bleak, barren but richly hued landscape. This is personified by the characteristic timbre of the instrument and accounts for the particular sweep and colour of the music.

The work falls naturally into two parts and can be described as a transition from complexity to simplicity. The first is characterized by a great variety of activity – agitated configurations, short melodic phrases, alternations of sul pont, pizzicato, arco, tremolo and so on. The structure is loosely based on a twelve note series and features a series of twelve groups. These are short sections of music, each emphasising one of the notes of the series. There are only four types of groups used so the first part of the work can be heard as three related variations. The second part of the work uses the series material melodically. It opens with these notes presented in the order and registers established in the preceding part. Ultimately this develops into an extended melodic line with the close of the work attaining the ultimate in simplicity – a repeated note.

• Blake: A Viola on Skye; facsimile 

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“The sanskrit equivalent for initiation is abhisheka, meaning ‘sprinkle’, ‘pour’, ‘anointment’. And if there is pouring, there must be a vessel into which the pouring can fall. So at last we might really give up all these complications and just allow some space, just give in. This is the moment when abhisheka – sprinkling and pouring – really takes place, because we are open and are really giving up the whole attempt to do anything, giving up all the busyness and overcrowding. Finally we have been forced to really stop properly, which is quite a rare occurrence for us.”

(Taken from Chogyam Trungpa’s Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, from album Nederlands Blazers Ensemble: Zeibekiko, NBECD014).

The composer writes: ”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 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 the even intervals of our chromatic tuning system.”

Abhisheka by John Psathas was chosen for the list of string quartets in 2000 for ‘IAMIC Sounds of the Year’. The composer has also prepared versions of Abhisheka for mixed chamber ensemble, this version performed by Manos Achalinotopoulos, Vangelis Karipis and Nederlands Blazers Ensemble at Paradiso, in Amsterdam in 2004, and for string orchestra (2008).

Programme note from the New Zealand String Quartet’s 2012 New Zealand at Kings Place concert.

• Psathas: Abhisheka; computer-set 

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• Psathas: Abhisheka; computer-set   Year: 2000 

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• John Psathas: Abhisheka; video  

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• John Psathas, RNZB: Abhisheka (part 4 of 4); video 

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• John Psathas, RNZB: Abhisheka (part 3 of 4); video 

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• John Psathas, RNZB: Abhisheka (part 2 of 4); video 

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• John Psathas, RNZB: Abhisheka (part 1 of 4); video 

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• Psathas: Eight Works 

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• John Psathas: Abhisheka 

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• John Psathas: Rhythm Spike  Year: 1999 

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• Sound Barrier  Year: 2006 

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• notes from a journey  Year: 2010 

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violin 1, violin 2, viola, cello

• Crehan: After the Crank Rush; computer-set 

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• Crehan: After the Crank Rush; computer-set 

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• Speak: Arabesques; computer-set 

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• Waiteata Collection of New Zealand Music Vol. 7 - Emerging Composers  Year: 2003 

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An unusual work combining field recordings of fiddle music played by an Indonesian street-seller of candy-floss (in Indonesian, "arum manis, meaning “sweet aroma”) with a string quartet. The listeners’ ears are charmed by music which passes seamlessly between the tape and the live performers. Composed for the Kronos Quartet, this work was presented at the 1996 International Rostrum of Composers.

• Body: Arum Manis; facsimile 

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• SOUNZfine Volume 3 

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• Sound Barrier  Year: 2006 

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Bright Silence, for solo violin, is an evocation of Central Otago, the high plateau between the Southern Alps and the coastal plains in the South Island of New Zealand. The area is treeless, rocky, sparsely populated, and the piece reflects the sounds, silences and ghosts of the area.

Bright Silence was written while Gillian Whitehead was composer-in-residence with the Auckland Philharmonia, as the solo violin competition piece for the inaugural Michael Hill World Violin Competition (now the Michael Hill International Violin Competition) held at Queenstown, New Zealand, where it received its first eighteen performances in June 2001. The piece is dedicated to Michael Hill.

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• Whitehead: Bright Silence; computer-set 

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• Premieres: Poynton, Ritchie, Whitehead 

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• NZIAF: Gillian Whitehead Portrait; part 1 

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• NZ Women Composers Vol. 3 

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• Whitehead: Bright Silence 

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• Whitehead: Bright Silence  Year: 2002 

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• Waiteata Collection of New Zealand Music Vol. 11 - Chamber Music III  Year: 2010 

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• Elmsly: Capriccio; computer-set 

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• Elmsly: Capriccio; computer-set 

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• Release: The Mozart Fellowship  Year: 2012 

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• Farquhar: Chaconne; computer-set 

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• Farquhar: Chaconne; computer set 

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• Harris: Chaconne for Solo Viola; computer set 

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• Harris: Chaconne for solo viola; computer-set 

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• Works: Farquhar, Harris and Rimmer 

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• Harris: Chaconne for Solo Viola 

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Written for Gavin Saunders, who planned to spend some months on the island of Lifou (French Caledonia) exchanging his music with that of his hosts. Farquhar’s idea was to provide an opportunity for the Lifouans to collaborate in the piece by providing a rhythmic background (clapping), and then taking over the piece to a rousing climax at the end.

• Farquhar: Chap-Chap; facsimile 

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• Farquhar: Chap-Chap; facsimile 

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• Viola Brass and Winds  Year: 2003 

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