Kastena and Red Pants
The cello
extolls like a didgeridoo,
sustains its bass tone by the slow, delicate caress
of bow across strings.
Kastena
rushes ahead,
hesitates, then dashes again,
in turn contemplative, sad,
angry, joyous, ecstatic.
Capricious
summer breeze
in a grove of ginko trees,
she swirls green butterfly leaves,
lets them fall, lifts and clumps them together,
then scatters them apart.
Eddies and vortices form, spin and dissolve
where the cello and violin converse.
Post
rehearsal dinner conversation
among chamber musicians
meanders to past performances.
One describes an Hermentin premier celebrated
with fanfare in formal attire.
It was so exciting…
and she wore red pants!
Young like
her music,
alive and unselfconscious,
Hermentin can wear red pants
anytime she wants!
Meditation
on Kastena
for violin and cello (2003)
Alexandra Hermentin-Karastoyanova
Performed 05-29-2008 by Chamber Music Quad Cities
David Bowlin, violin
Katinka Kleijn, cello
—Joe Chambers
31 May 2008
revised 4 June 2008
