While also featuring folkloristically-inspired works by David Burge and Jean Ahn, the heart of VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY STEFAN WOLPE is the similarly-titled work by Robert Gross, spanning no less than twenty variations on a theme by Stefan Wolpe, the German-American interdisciplinary modernist. Sprawling yet precise, decisive yet eclectic, it’s the perfect canvas for pianist Koeun Grace Lee, and the resulting symbiosis is mesmerizing.
Today, Robert is our featured artist in “The Inside Story,” a blog series exploring the inner workings and personalities of our composers and performers. Read on to learn how he came to appreciate minimalism in composition and how it influences him today…
If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing?
I would probably be a lawyer for the ACLU. Composers obviously have an interest in freedom of expression and that is a deep passion for me. We live in an era where the ugliness of book banning is rearing its head again, and I think creative people need to resist the censorious impulses of bigots in power.
How have your influences changed as you grow as a musician?
I can think of one concrete example: I used to reject minimalism wholesale. Then I had to teach it in a class. And I thought to myself, well, the last thing I want to do is just pass along my prejudices and be a general downer for this class, so I think I’ll re-examine the entire movement and see what positives there are to be gleaned. And sure enough, I learned a lot that I had missed as a younger composer. I learned about timing, structure through orchestration, the nature of repetition, and how to build grooves. I am still not really a minimalist per se, but I do find some of its influences creeping into my aesthetic from time to time.
What advice would you give to your younger self if given the chance?
Get ready for a ton of rejection. In any creative field, rejection is a part of the overall experience. Musical stardom in the small town where you grew up does not necessarily translate into musical stardom on the world stage. So, grow a thick skin and learn to roll with the punches (to mix metaphors).
Robert Gross’s 2021 album Chronicles was hailed as “fresh and exciting” by Klang New Music; they were “wholly impressed with what Gross and his collaborating musicians and engineers accomplished.” Gross received his D.M.A. in music composition at University of Southern California where he also received a graduate certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television. He also received an M.A. in Music for Film, Television and Theater from the University of Bristol, an M.M. in Music Composition from Rice University, and a B.M. in Music Composition from Oberlin Conservatory. He has taught graduate and undergraduate level music theory at Rice University.
