Listen to Greenbaum, then Wolpe

Greenbaum & Wolpe have much in common.
Here they are, side by side. Grateful to Momenta String Quartet for caring for this music.

Greenbaum
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvl-fO9qVqI

Wolpe
String Quartet–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-mEVKOhJiY

When Greenbaum is in a Wolpe frame of mind he is thinking as one in league with the Abstract Expressionists.

With “Nameless”, we see Greenbaum’s shared interests with Davidovsky. Mario & I talked a lot about Gershom Sholem and any esoteric Judaism. Greenbaum credits Davidovsky for getting him onto Maimonides.

Matthew Greenbaum’s “Nameless”
Cygnus and Momenta Quartet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5iZsAYKLmg

Mario Davidovsky’s “Ladino Songs”
Elizabeth Farnum and Cygnus at the Library of Congress, 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhoHysrLLjg

“Nameless” connects to Greenbaum’s luscious Emerson setting. We discussed the lineage–Maimonides/Averroes/Aquinas – Spinoza – Goethe – Emerson. And that brings us back to Whitman!