Discussing repertoire in VAN last week, pianist András Schiff said, “No one can do everything; we have our limits.” Tell that to Jacob Greenberg. A longtime member of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Greenberg performs as a soloist, accompanist, and with orchestras on piano, harpsichord, harmonium, organ, and clavichord. He has recorded repertoire ranging from Bach to Phyllis Chen, though what matters more is how he plays it. Take just two examples: his Debussy, which is crisp and clear though never sterile, eschews the kind of “impressionism” often (wrongly) associated with the French composer without sacrificing luxurious beauty; his Elliott Carter has the polyphonic precision of a fugue, clearly rendering the intricacy of material that might sound like an atonal wash in other hands.
A year ago, Greenberg moved from Chicago to Berlin, where I met him for coffee recently. We talked about learning from instrumental mechanics, his problem with Dvořák, and shots with George Crumb.
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