By Daniel Buckwalter
An evening of lasts — finalities, if you will.
Delgani String Quartet spotlighted the final quartets of Franz Joseph Haydn, Benjamin Britten and Ludwig van Beethoven in a series of concerts in Salem, Corvallis, Portland and, finally, with two performances March 8 and 9 inside the sanctuary of the First Church of Christ, in Eugene.
With violinists Anthea Kreston and Jannie Wei, violist Amanda Grimm and cellist Eric Alterman, Delgani explored the lush, angelic moments and the fierce intensity of other movements in the final quartets of each of these composers, all to good-size audiences in Eugene. (Indeed, the March 9 performance was played in front an almost-packed house, which is rare for a Monday night concert).
My favorite of the quartets played was the five-movement String Quartet No. 3 in G Major, Britten’s final quartet composed in 1974, a year before his death at age 63. Alterman described it as a reflective piece, and I certainly understood that as I listened, but there also seemed to be an avant-garde-like personality to a good portion of the piece. I don’t know if that’s a correct interpretation, but there were fierce fragments — scenes — scattered throughout the narrative.
The exception was the heartrending third movement, largely a solo for the first violin (Kreston) with sporadic and soft accompaniment from the other three musicians. It was mournful, and it seemed to be dripping in sadness and regret. In Kreston’s hands, it also was gripping and beautiful.
The concert began with Haydn’s String Quartet No. 68 in D Minor, composed six years before his death in 1809. With only two movements, it’s thought to be an unfinished quartet, and it was a spirited way to open the evening.
Beethoven’s String Quartet No, 16 in F Major — composed a year before the great one’s death in 1827 — closed out the concert, a four-movement piece where each of the four parts tug at the others in differing rhythms. If I believed that the Britten piece seemed scattered, so, too, was this Beethoven piece.
But it was all in fun, and if you’re into celebrating the final works of master composers, you can’t ever go wrong with the compositions of Franz Joseph Haydn, Benjamin Britten and Ludwig van Beethoven.
And you certainly cannot go wrong listening to them played by the Delgani String Quartet. It was masterful.
