Jettatura for Percussion Duo

About

This arrangement of Jettatura by Dr. Omar Carmenates, Associate Professor of Percussion, Furman University, USA, is from a collection of Psathas’ works arranged by Carmenates for percussion ensemble entitled The John Psathas Percussion Project.

Carmenates’ intricate arrangement of Jettatura (originally a short, uncomplicated moto perpetuo for piano, tests the capabilities of the percussion duo just as much as Psathas’ original version challenges the pianist. Here, the percussionists must keep precise time to navigate Jettatura’s rapid-fire waves of notes, which can find themselves fragmented and dovetailed between instruments. The rumble of the piano’s lower register is supplanted by the damp, woody resonance of the marimba’s lowest octave, while the vibraphone’s mellow timbre features in the work’s more subdued middle section. Standing out most, however, is the punchiness of the marimba’s middle-to-upper register, which dominates the animated outer sections of the work, maintaining the bold character of the piano version.