Blue Medusa

Blue Medusa was composed in 2003 for bassoon and piano. I subsequently had the idea of making a version for bassoon and small ensemble using the same instruments as for Schubert’s Octet. The work is in one movement and begins with the instruction With an energetic sting. The reason for this can be seen from the following:

Medusa: creature of the sea, beautiful in form and movement, but dangerous to the touch.

Medusa: one of the three Gorgons, her hair a crown of writhing snakes, whose gaze turned men and beasts to stone, and from whose neck sprang the winged horse Pegasus when Perseus cut off her head with a single sweep of his sword.

Blue Medusa: a creation, aquamarine, with an energetic sting; a creation, nearing the surface, winging upwards.

John Casken 2008