Dancing on Death's Chair (2012)
Duration: 12:00 minutes
Instrumentation: four bassoons and one contrabassoon (or five bassoons)
Premiere: May 8, 2012 at Primer Encuentro Internacional de Instrumentistas y Compositores in Morelia, Mexico by Dark in the Song
Notes:
This work is a continuation and expansion of a few other pieces. When working on my 3 Mushroom Haiku, I was fascinated by certain aspects of mushroom lore, including the spurious etymology of “Toadstool” as coming from the German Tod (death) and Stuhl (chair). While this is most certainly not part of the word’s actual evolution, the image was too tempting to pass by.
The three movements are macabre and grotesque miniatures culled from my Mushroom Haiku (without the voice parts) and Little Organ Book (both the opening Toccata and the Echo Fantasia).