A gentle liveliness inhabits Muisca's first movement Soledad. Time signatures constantly shift, with bar lengths changing by a beat or half-beat, while elsewhere certain syncopated figures recall the strum-based rhythms of the work's original incarnation for guitar. Sleepy yet mysterious, the second movement Chia opens with a solo vibraphone passage, before the marimba joins in for some gentle melodic interplay. The marimba then settles into a lightly swinging rhythmic bed in its rich lower register, allowing room for the vibraphone's statements in its resonant lower voice. The gentle, odd metered marimba groove that opens the final movement El Dorado lays a foundation for the vibraphone's own groove based melodies to interlock with, their lines tumbling through shifting time signatures reminiscent of the first movement. The duo's increasingly busy interplay is peppered with quickfire synchronised runs in the final minute of the movement, bringing Muisca to an exhilarating conclusion.
John Psathas is a New Zealand freelance composer and teacher who, at a relatively early stage in his career, has established an international profile and receives regular commissions from organisations both in New Zealand and overseas. His works are championed around the world by a growing number of leading international artists, one of the most consistent of whom has been the Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Initially making a name for himself as a composer of high-energy percussion music, more recently the composer has concentrated on a series of larger-scale concertante works. A major career highlight to date has been the commission to compose the ceremonial music for the opening and closing of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In 2005 John Psathas was created an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to music.
