The Jagged Stone
Overview
IOANNIS (JOHN) PSATHAS
The Jagged Stone
for String Quintet (2 Violins, Viola, 2 Cellos)
1. The Hole in My Heart
2. Thrum
Commissioned by Chamber Music at the World’s Edge Foundation (AWE Festival)for the 2025 World’s Edge Festival
The Jagged Stone was written for the 2025 World's Edge Festival. I was invited to be the composer in residence and had one of the best experiences ever during my time in Wanaka and Queenstown.
When writing The Jagged Stone I was thinking a lot about the transformational nature of love, and the way the love finds us in a certain state and, when it goes, it leaves us in a very changed state. We are changed forever by it.
The two movements represent a kind of 'before' and 'after' state of love (presented in reverse order - The Hole in My Heart being the 'after' and Thrum being the 'before').
The 'The Hole In My Heart' is written at the 'end' of love, the aftermath, when memories are incredibly bittersweet and life itself feels muted. This is also why the players are all using mutes through this entire movement, to bring the overall sound to that feeling. When love leaves us - it can be when a relationship ends, or when it changes, it can be when someone passes away, or just simply the passage of time - there is so much change that we have to work through when that happens.
The second movement - 'Thrum' - in great contrast to the first, tries to capture the feeling of the anticipation of new love, and the ecstasy one feels when one realises one has found oneself in love. So there is an irrepressible energy in this movement, and it manifests in the way that all of the players, all of the parts, are talking to each other through this. The way that they are joyfully aware of each other. They support each other, they react to each other, and often they anticipate each other, in a very positive energised way.
The string writing in this second movement also is at a kind of limit of what's possible. It's a total gym workout for the players and the ensemble.
The idea of love as evoked in this work is one that carves a hole in the heart, but it also presents us with of the great life forces that comes into our lives. And no matter how deep the heartbreak, love will also bind us to that great enemy of inner peace, which is hope. It seems that love will always bring us to that place
