Diana first met Garnell Copeland in the late 1960s when she was soloist at the National Cathedral and Saint Alban’s. Garnell had recently graduated from Curtis.
Only when she and Tom became soprano and bass soloists, respectively, at the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, DC, (1969 - 1974) did she have opportunity to hear Garnell not only play organ but piano. She said of all the artists she had heard in her lifetime – including Ossip Gabrilowitsch and Sergei Rachmaninoff in her youth – Garnell was the best keyboardist ever.
Diana did say that while many of Garnell’s interpretations reflected a seeming pent-up rage, he could also draw upon that, somehow, to provide contrasting tenderness.
Pie Jesu - Boulanger - 04:58
Even in his only surviving work for solo organ , a quiet introspective, almost meditative mood stands in stark contrast to the persona he seemed to project that persists in the memories of those who knew him best.
Diana only learned, quite by accident, of Evocation in 2008, when Linda Hemphill was visiting Stanford. At dinner that evening at Il Fornaio, Linda presented Diana with a CD of Garnell in recital at Epiphany, 35 years earlier.
This Prelude in c minor – “Evocation” (written in 1968, in memory of Dr. Leo Sowerby – who Diana also knew) was recorded on the evening of 20 May 1973. Diana was unable to attend the performance because she was performing at the same time the Bach Cantata – Jauchzet Gott (BWV 51) across town at the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Diana and i were so moved by the work that, when we were unable to find any surviving copy of the piece, i wrote it out so she could play it on the organ stop of our Yamaha Clavinova. At the time the other pieces she was practicing on a fairly frequent basis were the Scriabin Fifth Sonata, the Brahms Presto nach Bach and Ravel’s transcription of La Valse.
In those final couple of decades, discourse on such a wide array of topics was a fairly regular occurrence while Diana would enjoy coffee in the morning or have play-dates with Jumpy in the afternoon. While he’d stretch across her feet, she would discuss a point she felt was well-stated in this book or a passage she enjoyed in some recently released DVD she found on amazon. Many such conversations resulted in some of the reviews she would suggest i have posted on the Leonardo website.
http://www.ubiqicon.us/language-music-and-the-brain-a-mysterious-relationship/
These links are provided to give a glimpse into just how active Diana’s curiosity still was even as she approached her 92nd birthday.
June 2017