This arrangement of Muisca 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.
With its restless time signatures, a gentle liveliness inhabits Muisca's first movement Soledad, 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 sees the marimba and vibraphone enjoy some gentle melodic interplay, with the marimba then settling 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 before the duo's increasingly busy interplay is peppered with quickfire synchronised runs.
Throughout the majority of this arrangement, the vibraphone carries the melodic burden of the piece with the marimba providing the rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment. This, and the general "Spanish" feel of the work, resulted in a sound reminiscent of the classic duets of Chick Corea and Gary Burton off of the Crystal Silence or Duet albums and also of Joe Locke and Christos Rafildes off of their Van Gogh by Numbers album. Throughout the arranging process, these musicians stayed in my ear to the point that I had multiple dreams where I was sitting in the audience at the Blue Note, New York, hearing both of these renowned duos performing the work.
