Waiting for the Aeroplane (Preview)

PROMETHEAN EDITIONS
John Psathas
Waiting for the Aeroplane
Piano

John Psathas
Waiting for the Aeroplane
Piano
PROMETHEAN EDITIONS
WELLINGTON
PE048 – 1

Waiting for the Aeroplane (PE048), for Piano by John Psathas
(1988/90).
© Ioannis Psathas 1988/90
Published exclusively by Promethean Editions Limited
First published in Firestarters 2: 7 New Recital Pieces for Piano
© 2005 Promethean Editions Limited
This edition © 2018 Promethean Editions Limited
Series Editor: Ross Hendy
Editor: Thomas Liggett
ISBN: 978-1-877218-48-4 (print)
ISBN: 978-1-77660-048-9 (ebook)
ISMN: 979-0-67452-278-6
Promethean Editions Limited
PO Box 10-143
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
http://www.prometheaneditions.com
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by
any means without permission in writing from the Publisher.
PE048 – 2

John Psathas (1966)
John Psathas is one of New Zealand’s most frequently performed composers and has been
described by fellow composer Christos Hatzis as one of the three most important living
composers of the Greek Diaspora. Psathas’ output has spanned high-energy chamber and
orchestral works, film scores and multi-disciplinary works, with strong focus on large-scale
collaborative projects in recent years.
Psathas grew up in Taumaranui and then Napier, and left high school early to study
composition and piano at Victoria University of Wellington. He then undertook further
studies with composer Jacqueline Fontyn in Belgium before returning to New Zealand. Early
success came in 1991 with Matre’s Dance, a maximum-energy duet for percussion and piano
that has since made Psathas’ name internationally known through having been taken up and
championed by percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.
International acclaim continued to accumulate for Psathas following the August 2000
premiere of his saxophone concerto Omnifenix by legendary jazz saxophonist Michael
Brecker. The growing popularity of his Drum Dances for drum kit and piano established
Psathas as an exceptional writer for percussion. Psathas also came to embrace writing for
large forces; evidenced by the much heralded View From Olympus, a double concerto for
percussion, piano and orchestra. Since its premiere, View From Olympus has gone on to be
performed by many orchestras around the world. His piano concerto Three Psalms followed
in 2004. In 2008 Chamber Music New Zealand commissioned Psathas to write a string quartet,
A Cool Wind, for the Takács Quartet. All the while, Psathas continued to write formidable
and exciting works for percussion, evidenced by Djinn, a concerto for solo marimba and
chamber orchestra, and One Study One Summary for marimba, junk percussion and digital
audio, which has become a popular standard among the repertoire of modern works for solo
percussion and reflects a period in which Psathas explored the world of electronica.
PE048 – 3

Psathas has always embraced writing for large ensembles, and this has intensified since the
turn of the century. He was selected to score much of the opening ceremony of the Athens
2004 Olympic Games, which led to a proliferation of large-scale projects, collaborating with
artists from dozens of musical traditions. Much of his work since 2010 has overt social and
historical commentary at its core. Psathas handled the orchestral arrangements for the Elect
the Dead Symphony, featuring Armenian-American rock musician Serj Tankian. The album
reached No.2 on the Billboard Classical Album Chart. Psathas wrote the original score for
the feature film White Lies, described as a depiction of the head-on clash of beliefs and the
nature of identity in early New Zealand European settler society. Between Zero and One is
inspired by ancient and modern rhythms, and brings musicians from around the world into
the concert space via interactive projection, transforming and challenging the traditional
experience of fixed-location, temporally-contained performance. Psathas collaborated with
Tankian once again for the song 100 Years, which is featured in the soundtrack to the film
1915, an unflinching exploration and remembrance of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Most
recently, Psathas co-produced and wrote music for the epic experimental film project No
Man’s Land—a project conceived to overtly challenge the accepted handling of World War I
commemorations—and involved filming and integrating 150 musicians from more than 25
different countries, including Oum El Ghait (Morocco), Meeta Pandit (India), Bijan Chemirani
(Iran/France), Marta Sebestyen (Hungary), Vagelis Karipis (Greece), Refugees of Rap (Syria),
and Derya Turkan and Saddredin Ozcimi (Turkey).
Psathas has received an array of awards and honours, including twice winning the SOUNZ
Contemporary APRA Silver Scroll Award (2002 and 2004) for individual works and being
awarded three Classical Album 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). He teaches composition
at the New Zealand School of Music (Victoria University of Wellington), receiving the title
of Professor in Composition in 2011. In 2014, Victoria University of Wellington conferred
Psathas the degree of Doctor of Music (DMus), a higher doctorate in recognition for the
immense body of work he has contributed to his field.
Latest information about the composer may be found at www.johnpsathas.com.
PE048 – 4

Waiting for the Aeroplane (1988/90)
Waiting for the Aeroplane is Psathas’ response to the emotional experience of contemporary
air travel: long periods spent passing the time in a kind of awkward limbo, concluded by
abrupt partings with loved ones. The alternating two-note ostinato which opens the work,
and remains present throughout, evokes the sense of anticipation, while the interjections
of melodic fragments above this ostinato are like the fleeting, distracted thoughts and
conversations occupying the individual obliged to wait at the behest of influences outside
his or her control. Intense jazz-influenced flourishes bring a brief rush of energy, seemingly
signifying the arrival of a long-awaited, yet rushed, departure.
The composer writes:
Waiting for the Aeroplane captures a time when I was travelling to Greece to visit my
family, who had recently returned there from New Zealand to live. The emotion of
farewells, the sense of the distance between the two countries and the power of aircraft,
and the frenetic activity of airports all found their way into the piece.
Waiting for the Aeroplane received its premiere performance from Dan Poynton at the Adam
Concert Room, Wellington, New Zealand, in June 1988.
Performance notes
The alternating two-note ostinato which is present throughout most of the piece
should be executed with precision but be perceptible as no more than an unobtrusive
background ‘buzz’, until it combines with foreground elements at the climax of mm.54-
64.
The pedal should be used throughout each full phrase to create the sense of a single
uninterrupted expression of emotion.
PE048 – 5

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John Psathas
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Waiting for the Aeroplane © 1988/90 Ioannis Psathas
First published 2005 in Firestarters 2 (PE069)
This edition © 2018 Promethean Editions Ltd PE048 – 6
ISMN 979-0-67452-278-6

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PE048 – 7

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PE048 – 8

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PE048 – 9
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PE048 – 10
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PE048 – 11
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PE048 – 12

PE048 – 13

PROMETHEAN EDITIONS