The Kraken

Pedals only and Large Tam-Tam. The Kraken is a work for organ pedals with the player also playing a large tam-tam (or the player could also be joined by a percussionist.) It is based upon the poem by the same name by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892.) The Kraken is a mythical Norse sea monster. The opening lines of the poem give the setting for the music, which starts on the lowest possible pitches and works upward to a frenzy in both instruments: Below the thunders of the upper deep, Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The Kraken sleepeth.