by Frederick Lifsitz
second violinist of the
Alexander String Quartet
[University
of California Arts & Lectures Newsletter]
“Folks the opening of this work by Beethoven ain’t pretty. It’s like watching Mike Tyson fight when he’s hungry.” That’s the type of comment we hear time and again in our sessions with composer-speaker Robert Greenberg over the past twelve years in San Francisco, Berkeley, New York, and other wonderful cities. Audiences leave expressing the feeling that they have rarely heard so much in the music after a session with “Bob” (as he is known to those close to him) and that sentiment is exactly the way I feel as a performer when our performance is “set up” with his illuminating talk.
We first came to know Bob as a composer, and among the many fine American composers today, he is one of the finest and most daring. We have premiered and played many times two of his string quartets. He has traveled with us to Europe twice for performances of these works and gave informative and humorous pre-concert talks on both of these occasions. His abilities as a speaker and fine teacher have over many years become well known to people all around the country. From his many programs about music designed for people from all walks of life, he has developed quite a following. When we decided to do a series of programs on Saturday mornings under the auspices of San Francisco Performances, we had no idea what to expect, but it quickly grew into one of the hottest tickets in town, selling out long in advance of each year’s first concert — and with long lines of concert goers waiting for cancellations, hoping to get in at the last minute.
Bob has a love of sharing his extraordinary knowledge of music, which he has developed as a popular and demanding teacher over the years. He has marvelous and magical ability to connect with anyone from any walk of life and get them in touch with why the music he is discussing is relevant to them and to us all. He takes us (both performer and listener) through the historical, philosophical, psychological, and musical perspective of each composition, setting the stage for a deeply involved experience when the music is performed at the conclusion of his talk. With all this information coming at you, it is possible to imagine the magical effect of the music could be lost, but this is not at all the case at all! In fact the sense of amazement and mystery in the music are intensified.
In these concert-lectures we work
together
with Bob, with him asking us to play examples of the music, often
having
individual voices play in order to illustrate the texture and
construction
of a piece. For me, even after many years of performing these
works,
this process helps me hear even the most familiar compositions in a new
way. Indeed, I am often asked after one of these concerts if I
gain
anything from this process. The answer: I gain everything that
the
audience does and perhaps more because I am inspired by Bob’s research
and insights to look even further into the world of the composers and
their
works. This exploration is a key to discovering new ideas and
pathways
of interpretation. And that keeps my relationship with the music
fresh and my mission as a performer alive.