When the Dutch duo Erik Bosgraaf and Izhar Elias commissioned me to write a new work, it was decided that the composition wouldn't use any definitive pitch. Therefore, the result turned out to be rather noisy and particularly rhythmical. The recorder player hisses and roars into two recorder tubes, which were created from bass and tenor recorders by removing the mouthpieces and stopping the finger holes with tape. The four upper strings of the guitar are tuned to a very dissonant scordatura and are played throughout the piece with a slide to prevent any distinguishable pitch. The two lowest strings are wound together and played in a percussive manner. In addition, both players produce different percussive effects with their feet, hands and voices. Stheno refers to one of the Gorgon sisters from Greek mythology; the other two were named Medusa and Euryale. The most famous ability of the Gorgons was to turn a man into stone. In this work, there are a couple of static moments when constantly changing rhythmic patterns settle, and the sounds of the tape part, in a way, freeze the music. TR, 2007