Classical Music Forum

Tim Page is the chief classical music critic for The Washington Post and the author or editor of a dozen books, including "Dawn Powell: A Biography," "The Glenn Gould Reader," "The Unknown Sigrid Undset," "William Kapell: A Documentary Life History of the American Pianist" and the forthcoming "Tim Page on Music" (Amadeus Press). He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1997 for his writings about music for The Post.

He has also worked as an artistic adviser (the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra), a radio host (WNYC-FM in New York), a record producer (BMG Catalyst) and, in his younger days, a rock musician and cocktail pianist. A graduate of Columbia University, he lives in Washington with his wife, Julieta Stack.

A transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Tim Page: Hello! Finally here with you, after too many headaches to share. I'm in Alexandria, trying to type on a for-hire computer in a big atrium. Forgive me if I'm a little distracted.

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Fairfax, Va.: What are your thoughts on the "dumbing down" of classical music radio stations, to the point where they play the same "golden oldies" (warhorses) over and over? It even makes great music dull. If I hear Pictures at an Exhibition or The Four Seasons once more on WGMS, I think I'll be sick!;

Tim Page: I have to confess I never listen to classical music on the radio. My hope lies in streaming, which ought to be more convenient soon.

I'm told that there is a pretty good station up in Baltimore, however.

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Georgetown, Washington, D.C.: I was looking through next season's NSO line up trying to figure out which of their infernal color-coded subscriptions to get.

One of the packages (blue?) includes Stravinksy's Rite of Spring, but a "1947 version."

What's the story behind this? Is it worth attending, or is it more along the lines of last season's Mahler clip job on Beethoven?

Tim Page: The 1947 was a sort of reworking of the original that Stravinsky put together late in life, after becoming an American citizen. It is still pretty close to the original, but he made some touch-ups, some of them to try to get the work back into copyright (which had been declared theft by the Soviets ...)

I'm looking forward to hearing it.

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Bethesda, Md.: What exactly IS "post classical" music, anyway? Just kidding - your title says Post Classical Music Critic, rather than Post's or for the Post.

Proms are coming up soon, and the great thing about the BBC is that they broadcast all of it online - live, and most are re-broadcast one other time. Even better, 2 or 3 of the best proms every week are available "on demand" for a week. Along with copious program notes.

Someone else was asking me about the quality of the broadcast - it seems quite good to me, but I'm not sure how it would sound if I hooked it up to very good speakers. Have you listened to their on-line broadcasts?

Tim Page: Yes -- I am a Post critic, a Post classical music critic and a post-classical music critic. Among other things ...

The Proms are great. I look very much forward to hearing them in person some time again. A lot of good music, much of it practically unknown, all stirred together with popular anthems.

I'm sure that you can get pretty good sound nowadays from the right system and the right speakers. Let me know how it goes.

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Bethesda, Md.: What do you think about this project of Greg Sandow and the Pittsburgh Symphony, to give out hand-held tourguides of the music as it's being presented? I know he's writing them specifically for the performances, but I think the texts of those would be valuable to have available to someone listening to a recording of the music. If he gave time markings according to one performance, it should be enough to guess how it correlates to a recorded one, even if by a different orchestra.

Tim Page: I think very highly of Greg Sandow indeed: we became critics at about the same time and share many similar tastes. He's a very smart, very decent man who writes terrifically well and thinks in the long-term about the art.

I'd have to know more about the hand-held tour guides. Personally, I like to listen to the emotional argument of music and "forget" how it works. Analysis is one thing, listening is another. How one combines them is a personal thing.

I guess this means I'd have to know more about it before giving it a blanket endorsement.

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Washington, D.C.: Any advice for a first-time visitor to Tanglewood to help ensure the best possible concert-going experience?

Tim Page: That's a wonderful part of the world. Try to stay at Walker House, if you can -- friendly innkeepers and right in the center of Lenox. Gateways is also terrific, although more formal.

I assume you've picked your Boston Symphony concerts. I'd advise that you go a little early and sit in on some of the student programs, or attend a chamber performance, or listen to a lecture. There is so much going on in the area!

I hope you have a wonderful time.

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Washington, D.C.: The National Cathedral's Summer Festival program is presenting a series of concerts celebrating George Crumb's 75th b-day. Really enjoyed last night's concert. They played pieces from Bartok's Mikrocosmos, Crumb's Makrocosmos, and Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. There are 2 concerts left on 7/13 and 7/20 at 7:30 pm, and they take place in the cathedral. Washington National Cathedral Summer Festival

Tim Page: It IS an exciting event, isn't it? I wanted to go, but was writing up an article about an Ingmar Bergman retrospective, which will be in the paper this weekend.

Thanks for telling us about this.

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Arlington, Va. Greetings -
First, thanks for your lively and informative writing. I always take your opinions to heart even if I don't always agree. (Even as a Beach Boys fan, I don't get the High Llamas.) Most of the time you get it right and I appreciate your enthusiasm and that you grind no axes.

So, what can you say about Alfred Schnittke and more specifically his opera Gesualdo? I have the pleasure of going to Vienna at Christmas time and I was able to pick up tickets for this opera at the Staatsoper. I suspect the reason I was able to get tickets is because this is a 1995 opera and has some uncomfortable edges to it. This is fine with me - I enjoy expanding the range of my experience, but could you give me a clue for what I'm in store?

And while you're at it, what should I not miss in Vienna as a devoted music lover?

Thanks.

Tim Page: Thanks very much for your overall estimation of my work. If you want to give the Llamas one last try, check out "Cold and Bouncy," which seems to me the most diverse of their records.

I can't tell you much about Schnittke's "Gesualdo." My reaction to his music varied widely and I haven't heard a note of it. He wrote an amazing amount of music, from the purely commercial to the wildly experimental. This sounds quite interesting.

I'd check out some of the information you'd find by calling up composer and work on Google or AltaVista.

When I'm in Vienna, I like to walk the streets and visit the cafes. Check listings for local concerts. There is an excellent Turkish restaurant on the Mahlerstrasse.

I've always found it an impressive but not terribly friendly city -- and I can't imagine things have improved toward Americans since my last visit three years ago.

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Washington, D.C.: I was listening to John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano last night - what a fascinating set of pieces. The best way to become a one-man gamelan orchestra. I wanted to go out and buy a grand piano and a bunch of nail/screws/pieces of rubber to do just that. Too bad it's so hard to find interesting music like this performed in the D.C. area.

Tim Page: Yes -- that's probably Cage's masterpiece. Or, to put it in a Bachian mode, it's his "Well-Prepared Piano"! Amazingly innovative stuff -- rich and varied. Some of the other prepared piano music has much to recommend it, too -- the "Bacchanale," for example. And you're right -- it DOES sound like a one-man gamelan.

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Takoma Park, Md.: But Tim! One of the reasons you CAN forget how it works and listen for emotional impact is that you've internalized how it works.

For some newish listeners who want to understand more, having a guide to the structure/events can organize their listening, opening the way ultimately to their direct emotional enjoyment of music more complex than they might be used to.

Gotta grasp the "vocabulary".

Tim Page: I'm not positive that it is necessary to internalize an understanding of function to love music on a basic level. Eventually, yes -- and I'm very grateful for my years of training. And certain pieces require more training than others.

Look, I'm delighted if there are guides -- and Greg would be one of the best people in the world to write them. But I don't think those who DON'T know their theory and history need be frightened from gleaning what they will without such preparation.

The Overture to "La Traviata" made me weep when I was three. I was scared to death by the "Ritual Fire Dance" and overwhelmed by the opening of "Das Rheingold." My understanding of these pieces is greater now, but I was still moved -- and profoundly so -- coming to them cold.

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Takoma Park, Md.: Related point:

I will never forget my first experience of hearing an Indian raga live, with an Indian audience.

I was totally lost, not being able to pick out what was going on. It seemed random to me.

but the people around me were clearly following it, having parallel responses, all sitting up and paying closer attention when the end was approaching. I could perceive none of this.

Their appreciation was founded on knowledge, whether explicit or the result of internalized experience.

It's the closest I've come to understanding the "new listener" experience for Western classical music, and it was immensely revealing.

Tim Page: Didn't you start to take it in, as the piece progressed? That's always been my experience with unfamiliar musics...

Then again, there are some kinds of music, some composers, who have been explained to me at length -- and I STILL don't understand them, except on the most rudimental (technical) level.

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Durham, N.C.: Tim, stop me if you've heard this before, but do you think people who grew up with rock make for a different type of classical music listener than those folks who were able to ignore rock in the first place? I'm just blown away by the dynamic range of some pieces (Beethoven) and tunefulness of certain artists, like Handel. BTW, I've discovered that playing the "classical oldies" radio station at dinner settles down my kids better than The White Stripes ...

Tim Page: Interesting.

There is no doubt in my mind that classical musicians who listened (and listen to) rock understand the tenets of minimalism better than those who didn't. I even have a theory about the different elements rock and jazz aficionados respond to in classical music -- rather the opposite of each other, or so it seems to me.

This is an idea for an essay ...

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St. Paul, MN: Following up on the question about classical music radio: If I remember correctly, you were a classical DJ sometime in your past. Can you describe what king of classical music format you would like to hear if it were available? Would there be a continual mix of things, or periods devoted to certain things, or what?

Tim Page: I played everything on my show from Stockhausen's "Hymnen" (all two hours without a break) to Noel Coward original hits to Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson to songs of humpbacked whales. I was given absolute carte blanche to play whatever I wanted.

I was very lucky. WNYC was a wonderful place then. (IT still is a wonderful place, but radio has changed, changed, changed ...)

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Columbia, S.C.: Tim,

I have been a passionate, life-long lover of classical music, but I have just about had it with the way it is treated on NPRs overnight programming. Music composed after 1950 is virtually nonexistent; there is some terrific, accessible work out there which listeners are not exposed to. Instead, we get a narrow selection of pre-1950 music going back to the 18th century with some pieces oft repeated. Symphonies trump chamber works, and Mozart is the most(over)played. And of course opera arias are rendered orchestrally, not vocally. If NPR wants to build its classical audience (as I want them to do), it seems to me including the best of contemporary music in its scheduling is one way to go. After all, it is the music of our time and that is what young audiences respond to. Hook them with that and then they can be lured back in time. And in the process the classical conservatives will have their musical horizons expanded and find that they actually enjoy the newer works.

Tim Page: You make some good points. As I said at the start of our session, I think classical radio has pretty much had its day. The internet will make all the difference.

And that had better be it for today, this gloomy, rainy afternoon in Alexandria. I'll look forward to speaking with you again in another two weeks.

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