Readings from the Necronomicon (For Electric Guitar and Detuned Harpsichord) by Gord Sellar

This was one of my compositions during my third year of studies at the University of Saskatchewan Department of Music. It was performed by Kathleen Davis-Lepage and a guitarist named Darryl... er, er... I'll update when I get his last name.

The harpsichord is not randomly detuned: I had a very specific tuning regime set up for it, in fact. But since I haven't a copy of the piece (it may be in a box back in Canada, or may not) you'll just have to trust me on that.

True story: the program notes explained the story of the Necronomicon as if it were a real text, as if Abdul Alhazred and the demon voices spoken by the mouths of insects were all real. At the end of the recital, a friend of my ex confessed tearfully that she was worried about the fate of my immortal soul, that I was courting evil in my music. I rubbed my hands together, Mr. Burns-style, and declared the recital a success.

(But it makes one think about the aesthetic and intellectual intersection points of pulp and mainstream religious belief, doesn't it?)