Arts & Events

Alexander String Quartet’s Final “Mozart in Vienna” Program

Reviewed by James Roy MacBean
Friday January 15, 2016 - 02:41:00 PM

My routine of playing tennis every Saturday morning was disrupted by the ongoing rainstorms of El Niño, and as a result I was able to attend the Alexander String Quartet’s final “Mozart in Vienna” program at 10:00 am on Saturday, January 9, 2016 at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Berkeley. These “Mozart in Vienna” programs have been presided over each Saturday by music historian-in-residence Robert Greenberg, who introduces the works to be performed and lectures on their salient musical attributes. Brooklyn-born Greenberg, who was referrred to by The Bangor Daily News (Maine) as “the Elvis of music history and appreciation,” treats his lectures as a kind of stand-up comedy routine, and he comes off at times almost as a carnival barker. Nonetheless, Greenberg knows his music, and he is at his best when, as he did on January 9, he coaxes the Alexander String Quartet to play the very phrases the lecturer wishes to call to our attention. -more-