Delgani String Quartet; Pius Cheung

[eve_prime]

Tonight the Delgani String Quartet premiered a work by local composer and percussionist Pius Cheung, whose wife Eriko Daimo played most of the percussion part - the strings players also got to play some percussion as the piece went along. It was loud, of course, but we were forewarned. Also the concert was in the local synagogue, a much larger venue than the usual church, so that helped. And even though I had a near-headache, the complete control of the percussionist meant that even the cymbals didn't "clang" irritatingly. Daimo, whose specialty is the marimba, also played a piece illustrating the "four elements" of light, water, air, and fire, which was fascinating and lovely.

After the intermission, the quartet played Ravel's only string quartet. I liked it - it was beautiful - but the really interesting thing about it, for me, was that the second movement sounded like something composed in the 1970s. I'm going to make a point of listening to that again.