By Daniel Buckwalter
It was a beautiful flourish to end the season.
Delgani String Quartet’s eighth season concluded May 15 in Eugene with strength, grace and precision, all that anyone would expect from violinists Anthea Kreston and Jannie Wei, violist Kimberlee Uwate and cellist Eric Alterman.
The concert — Shadow and Light — showcased the works of American composer Jennifer Higdon as well as legends Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (String Quartet in C — Dissonance) and Maurice Ravel (String Quartet).
It’s absurd to discount Mozart and Ravel on any given evening, especially when each piece was performed almost wizardly by Delgani. Still, my favorite piece was Higdon’s In the Shadow of the Mountain, the opening selection of the night.
In the Shadow has an Appalachian bent to it that captures the richness of the mountains with tenderness, as well as fierce passages that reflect the harsh climate and the sometimes hard lives of the people in that region. All that owes to Higdon’s Appalachian roots, or at least part of her roots.
The composer was born in Brooklyn, New York, and spent some time in Atlanta before the family moved to the quaint and unincorporated community of Seymour, Tennessee, which has a population of 14,705, according to 2020 U.S. Census.
She now lives in Philadelphia and has been a Composer-in-Residence with the Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Philadelphia and Fort Worth symphony orchestras. She also won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her composition, Violin Concerto.
Higdon composed In the Shadow of the Mountain in 2020, and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a touch of pandemic-driven nostalgia for her former home. It is a wonderful piece to listen to.
And it was a beautiful way to start the final concert of this Delgani season.
Note: The Delgani String Quartet has announced its 2023-24 season, which begins in Eugene on Oct. 22. Program details and ticket information about the four-concert season are online at delgani.org.
