Serenity Diptychs (2015) For violin, electronics and still images Performed by Karen Bentley Pollick (violin) Recorded at the Lithuanian National TV & Radio Studio Mastered by Brad Smalling, Evergroove Studio Composer's Note: When I first encountered photographic diptychs of Philip Van Keuren, I was struck by the “endless pairs of things” and the unexpected dialogues appearing between the images. According to the artist “often the more “distance” between the shear physicality of the paired images, light-dark, near-far, etc. results in a stronger emotive resonance, creating the “conversation” between images. The diptychs pair seemingly ordinary, but disparate visual, cultural, and historical entities in order to illuminate and amplify their equivalent fictive, numinous, poetic and emotional qualities. Two realities are placed side by side that would never be adjacent in the real world”. The idea of pairing became a focal point in “Serenity Diptychs”. The piece itself takes the form of an enlarged diptych consisting of two distinctly different adjacent musical worlds – one of a dynamic nature and another of transcendence, stillness and reflection. The first part with its continuous forward motion resembles a hike up a high mountain. Endless and tireless repetitive patterns are swirling ceaselessly and accumulating energy until the very top of the mountain is reached. There everything suddenly becomes still. One just stands in awe, mesmerized by the breathtakingly spacious vistas and mountain ranges overlapping each other in a far distance. Thus the second part reflects this state of heightened sensitivity where stasis bears a somewhat ecstatic quality. Another pairing is formed between solo violin and tape part where real acoustic sound is merged with imaginary voices.