MusicWeb hasn’t reviewed any courses from the Teaching
Company yet, so a bit of introduction is in order. The Teaching
Company offers several hundred “courses” on diverse
subjects, from history to literature, from science to philosophy.
They have a few dozen courses about music: they deal with periods,
composers, or, in this case, specific groups of works. Each of
these courses is made up of a number of lectures (usually 12-24),
ranging from a half-hour to one hour each. These lectures are
composed and presented by professors who are experts in their
subjects.
This set of lectures consists of 24 lectures of about 45 minutes
each exploring Beethoven’s string quartets. Beginning with
the roots of the string quartet form, examining Haydn and Mozart,
the lectures then traverse the quartets in order, examining the
forms and structures used, and giving plentiful musical examples
from the quartets. For some lectures (after the initial, introductory
ones), a single quartet is studied, and some quartets, such as
the later ones, require two lectures to explore. While it is
probably best to follow this series in order, you could dip in
and a watch a lecture on a specific quartet that interests you
out of sequence.
In a way, these lectures are somewhat like expanded liner-notes
or program notes. But they have the advantage of the ebullient
Professor Robert Greenberg, who makes these talks come to life
with a rare level of enthusiasm. It’s obvious that Greenberg
- who has done a large number of courses for the Teaching Company
- loves music, and enjoys conveying this love to people who follow
these courses. He can almost be a bit tiring sometimes; his fervor
never lets up during the course of a lecture, but this keeps
the viewer’s interest throughout. It can be a bit hard,
though, to watch more than, say, two of these lectures in a row,
given the amount of intensity he exudes.
Greenberg looks at both the big picture and the details. Giving
biographical information to situate each quartet in Beethoven’s
life, he helps you understand what Beethoven was thinking and
feeling at the time of composition. But he also looks at the
forms used, the motives, and the “tricks” of composition
that make the quartets such wonderful music, using plentiful
musical examples.
What’s interesting about these lectures is that you don’t
need to be able to read music to follow them, as you do for any
book-length analysis of such works. You do, however, need a solid
grounding in musical vocabulary, but there is a glossary at the
end of the course guide, a book included with the lecture series.
Musical examples are provided, in this case, by the Alexander
Quartet, in their recent set of the works that was favorably
reviewed here on MusicWeb. You do get some musical examples
in a course guidebook that comes with the lectures, but if those
mean nothing to you, you can just skip them. Note that they contain
timing information related to the Alexander Quartet recordings,
so you can find each example easily while listening. Greenberg
also, at times, sits at a piano to play isolated voices of part
of a quartet to show how they relate.
This is a truly wonderful course for anyone who wants to learn
more about Beethoven’s quartets, which are arguably the
summit of western chamber music. The approach that Greenberg
uses, looking at the big picture and the tiny details, made me
hear these works as I had never heard them before. It’s
a commitment to follow this course, which is some 18 hours long,
but there’s no hurry to watch all the lectures in a short
time, so you can watch a few, listen to the music, then come
back and watch more when you feel like it. This approach to exploring
music suits my desire to know more about certain works, but for
others it may be too detailed.
This course, like all courses from the Teaching Company, comes
in several formats. I have a DVD version, which is 6 DVDs. It
is also available in audio format, on CD, cassette (remember
those?), and by download. Hard copies include a course guide,
a 190-page book giving outlines for each lecture, as well as
additional information. A complete lecture transcript is also
available; in this case, it is a three-volume set totalling about
700 pages. While the DVD is interesting, because of the use of
some visuals, these are not essential to understanding and following
the course; the audio alone would be sufficient, but you miss
out on Greenberg’s on-screen vivacity. And some people
may find it easier to follow something this complex on screen.
One note on pricing. This recently released course has a list
price of $375 on DVD, and $200 by audio download. Yet it was “on
sale” when it was released, and again at the time of this
writing, for respectively $100 and $50. So if you’re interested
in obtaining this course, wait for a sale; the Teaching Company
seems to run sales like this often. The Teaching Company also
sells the complete Alexander Quartet Beethoven box set for $50;
so if you don’t have it, you might want to pick it up at
that price.
I can’t say enough about how interesting these lectures
are. Presented by a man who really knows about music, they will
give you new insights into Beethoven’s quartets, and help
you better appreciate this wonderful music.
Kirk McElhearn
