(Above: Cellist Anne Riddlington; photo by Amanda L. Smith, courtesy of Delgani String Quartet)
By Randi Bjornstad
The Delgani String Quartet will become the Delgani String Quintet for a new concert titled Gesture and Journey that features Franz Schubert’s Cello Quintet.
The additional player rounding out the quartet is Anne Ridlington, principal cellist of the Eugene Symphony. The members of the Delgani String Quartet include violinists Wyatt True and Jannie Wei, violist Kimberlee Uwate, and cellist Eric Alterman.
In keeping with continuing pandemic requirements, instead of appearing in person, the concert will be livestreamed twice, at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 24, and again at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 26. After the initial airing, ticket holders and season subscribers will be able to “attend” the concert, the pre-concert lectures, and guest artist interview for 30 days.
The first half of the Gesture and Journey concert begins with three “gestural” works from the 20th century, including Four Bagatelles by American composer Alan Hohvaness, plus Igor Stravinsky’s Three Pieces, and Anton Webern’s Five Pieces.
“Gesture” in music can refer either to the physical relationship between the player and the instrument — certain physical movements resulting in certain sounds or emphases — or mental, in which the composer uses certain combinations of notes and chords to evoke a specific vision or response to the music.
In the case of the Hohvaness piece, the composition evokes folk melodies with an East-Asian or Eastern European flavor. The Stravinsky work also brings to mind mental associations of with folk and churchlike overtones. In contrast, the Webern composition uses physical gestures, such as playing with the bow stick, plucking the strings, or bowing on the bridge of the instrument.
After the intermission comes the “Journey” part of the concert with the Schubert piece, written just weeks before the composer’s death in 1828, at age 31, from typhoid fever and syphilis. Schubert’s compositions covered a wide range of genre for the time, including art songs, chamber, romantic, and classical.
The Cello Quintet is written for two violins, a viola, and two cellos, and features a “conversation” between the violins and cellos, simulating a lyrical journey of experience and reflection.
The Delgani String Quartet — Gesture and Journey
When: Online performances at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 24, and at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 26; plus 30-day access to ticket holders and season subscribers
Where: Online via the Delgani String Quartet website at delgani.org
Tickets: $28 adults, $5 students
Information: delgani.org
Left to right: Guest soloist Anne Ridlington; Delgani String Quartet members Jannie Wei, Wyatt True, Kimberlee Uwate, and Eric Alterman; 18th-century composer Franz Schubert
Future concerts in the Delgani String Quartet season
• Pieces of America (March 7 and 9): Through a kaleidoscope of individual movements, Delgani explores the rich diversity offered by American composers since the dawn of the 20th century. From the folk-like simplicity of George Chadwick and Amy Beach to the experimental ingenuity of Ruth Crawford Seeger and Elliot Carter, and from the mesmerizing pulsations of John Adams to the vibrancy of millennial Caroline Shaw, join us as we explore 130 years of American music.
• Shostakovich Piano Quintet (May 23 and 25): Oregon favorite Asya Gulua returns for another performance with Delgani, now featured in Shostakovich’s powerful Piano Quintet, a work clearly in the composer’s unique language yet looking back to tradition in its form. Included on this program is Dvořák’s ninth quartet and Tomáš Svoboda’s tenth quartet, a work Delgani first performed for the Portland-based composer’s 80th birthday in 2019.
