Alexander String Quartet at St. John's Presbyterian Church, December 10, 2016

San Francisco Performances presents Alexander String Quartet
2016-12-10
St. John's Presbyterian Church
2727 College Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705-1247 USA
10:00 AM, Saturday, December 10, 2016

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[10:04 AM Opening announcements by Christine Lim]

1. [10:06 AM] Lecture by Robert Greenberg
   [ends 10:34 AM, pause for a bit of tuning]
   
   Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95, “Serioso”, 1810
2. [10:35 AM] Allegro con brio
3. [10:39 AM] Allegretto ma non troppo
4. [10:46 AM] Allegro assai vivace ma serioso – Più Allegro
5. [10:50 AM] Larghetto espressivo – Allegretto agitato – Allegro
   [set ends 10:55 AM; all off after a minute or so for applause]

1. [11:19 AM] Lecture by Robert Greenberg
   [ends 11:49 AM, pause for a bit of tuning]
   
   Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80, 1847
2. [11:49 AM] Allegro vivace assai
3. [11:56 AM] Allegro assai
4. [12:01 AM] Adagio
5. [12:09 PM] Finale: Allegro molto
   [show ends 12:15 PM; bows and applause, then done!]

Alexander String Quartet

• Zakarias Grafilo: violin;
• Frederick Lifsitz: violin;
• Sandy Wilson: cello;
• Paul Yarbrough: viola.

• Robert Greenberg: lecturer.

To accompany the two fairly grim works on this morning's program, Mother Nature decided to let loose with a fabulous, lashing, pounding, howling winter storm. Given how dry things have been for the past few years, this ought to be a welcome change, but when you're trying to listen to chamber music, the distraction of a storm can be kind of annoying.

As with last week, I found the two pieces on today's program to be superbly matched, and Robert Greenberg's excellent lectures went far towards illuminating the how and why of that pairing.

Good show!

Program Notes

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2016 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2016 event list! ☸ On to the next event!