Ode To K by Diamond published on 2019-07-21T17:34:15Z ODE to K Karen Bentley Pollick, violin Stuart Diamond, electronics recorded in the Chapel at Battle Mountain Vineyard on June 14, 2019 During my recent visit to Battle Mountain Vineyard in Springville, California, I was awakened by birdsong that lured me to the nearby Chapel, now a shrine to the memory of my dear friend Kathryn Gould. She fell in love with the property in the Sierra foothills and became a devoted vintner with her husband Allen Stewart, who continues as loyal curator of her legacy and steward for the current crops. I followed the rosemary and lavender lined hedge to the Chapel and paid respects to the plaque honoring Kathryn alongside her paintings, grand piano and music library. I opened up my violin case and began to improvise with the emotions radiating from the ample acoustics, initiating a listening session with Kathryn’s spirit guiding my ear, heart and soul towards a melody in F minor before swooping into flurries of arpeggiation and pizzicato. There is a porthole window atop the entrance doors into which a bird repeatedly dove, desiring proximity and participation. I sent the recording captured on my Sony device to Stuart Diamond. He enhanced the violinistic vocalise by adding an ostinato with multiple cello lines and morphing the bird beating into a rhythmic element with his sonorous electronic harmonies and timbres. Kathryn continues to inspire us to create with unflagging enthusiasm and panache as she did while she walked amongst us. Her advocacy of contemporary symphonic music endures through the scores commissioned by her Magnum Opus Project. She was proud of every composer whose music she admired and facilitated through multiple performances. Our 2001 premiere with Redwood Symphony of ‘Dance Suite for Violin & Orchestra’ by Swedish composer Ole Saxe was the first collaboration for Kathryn and inspired her to create Magnum Opus. I cherish many memories of my esteemed violin student who played the melodies of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto passionately on her beloved violin by Giovanni Battista Rogeri. May the wings of song continue to buoy her spirit from Springville to the beyond. Molly Sheridan’s August 8, 2008 article for New Music Box gives a superb overview of Kathryn’s commitment to expanding the repertoire for orchestral music. https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/Sound-Investments-The-Commissioning-Portfolio-of-Kathryn-Gould/ Genre Classical
