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: Good afternoon -- and a typically hot and humid D.C. afternoon it is.

I'm sorry that these chats have become so irregular. I'll do my best to get back on a schedule. It's been an amazingly busy summer and I can hardly believe it's half over.

Just got the proofs of books by two friends -- Allan Kozinn and Anthony Tommasini, both of a certain New York daily that we refer to as "Brand X." Allan's book is a guide to 100 great recordings of the classical repertory: Tony has assembled a guide to opera recordings. Both can be recommended.

The book that's dazzled me lately is by another friend, Terry Teachout. "A Terry Teachout Reader" (Yale) covers all the arts -- film, dance, music (of all kinds), literature, and any variety of crossroads. Even when I find myself in disagreement with Terry, the fact remains that this is a book one vividly enjoys disagreeing with -- one test of truly stimulating criticism. (How many of us found ourselves in this field in order to "win" arguments with critics of the past -- Haggin, Thomson, Schonberg...!) A strong personality -- and spectacularly unpredictable.

Let's start a little early today -- generosity seems to be in order after I've missed so many of these chats lately!

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Bethesda, Md.: So, anything at all going on in August in the DC vicinity? More was going on in July than I realized until it was over.

Tim Page: Not a heck of a lot. There's a staging of Poulenc's "Dialogues of the Carmelites" on July 30 and August 1 at Lisner by Opera International. There's some stuff at Wolf Trap, and some other events that haven't yet been listed.

Traditionally, August is the dullest month in the D.C. area and this one promises to be no exception. Me, I'm grateful for it, because it lets me begin to recharge for September!

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NYC Fan: Hi Tim,
I hope you are well and enjoying the summer.

I saw an obit in yesterday's New York Times for Carlos Kleiber. I vaguely recall that he was considered to be one of the foremost opera conductors around, but became rather eccentric and basically stopped performing as he got older. Any thoughts on his passing?
Thanks.

Tim Page: I'll take this question and the next one together.

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Chicago, IL: Tim,
I never saw Carlos Kleiber conduct in person, but based on his recordings and a couple of videos, he must have been remarkable. Did you have see him in person? What can you tell us about him?
Thanks

Tim Page: I heard Carlos Kleiber only two or three times, always at the Metropolitan Opera. He was a strange and reclusive man -- also a conductor of wonderful gifts. I've never heard a "La Boheme" so unified as he made it at the Met in the late 1980s: it seemed to come from a single impulse. (Not a shabby cast, either -- Freni and Pavarotti, if I remember right.)

Apparently, he really didn't enjoy conducting very much. One of his colleagues said that "Carlos conducts only when the freezer is empty." He lived a quiet and understated life, and was rarely recognized on the street. To the best of my knowledge, he never gave an interview. (Even Salinger and Pynchon have occasionally spoken to the press, albeit under duress.)

Every now and then a great artist will come along who simply doesn't want to practice that art very much. Carl Ruggles. Anton Webern. Greta Garbo. Marlon Brando. The later Rossini. And Carlos Kleiber.

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Oak Ridge, Tennessee: Dear Mr. Page:

A few months ago quite by accident I bought the CD of the Glenn Gould (A State of Wonder)recordings of the Goldberg Variations. There was something about your interview with him -which must have occurred shortly before his death] that has drawn me to many more of his recordings, books and videotapes. I have the impression that you were friends as well as musical colleagues. Could you please share your thoughts/recommendations of your favorite recordings. Did you interview him on any other occasions? Have you read the Bazzana biography and could you comment on it? Thank you.

Tim Page: I've written so much about Glenn that I fear becoming redundant. Yes, he was a terrific friend -- a kind, funny, curiously self-effacing man, in my experience. I met him only after talking with him on the phone for two years, spent two days working with him on our carefully scripted "State of Wonder" interview, and then spoke to him only once or twice more before he died, at the age of 50, of a stroke.

The Bazzana book -- "Wondrous Strange" -- is the biography of Gould we've been waiting for. It is remarkably straightforward, both narrative and analytical, and blessedly free of myth-making. I recommend it highly.

Let's see -- favorite Gould discs: the Byrd/Gibbons recital; the Brahms intermezzos; the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2 with Bernstein; the Mozart Concerto No. 24 with Susskind (I think); and any number of his Bach performances.

Also -- an excellent DVD called "Life and Times" which ran on the CBC originally and has now been issued as a film. It's amazing to think that Canada's public broadcasting is still on such a high level.

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Washington, D.C.: hello Tim,
In David Segal's chat he said that he is leaving his job as the paper's pop critic. Are you planning on applying for that gig?

Tim Page: David's leaving? First I heard of it. What a sad day for the Post.

That said, I wouldn't touch the job (nor, I suspect, would it be offered to me). Regular readers of this column know that I love a lot of pop music -- but I'd go crazy having to listen to the pop I don't love. I'm much too old for the job and out of sympathy with too many of the trends of the day. I like to be in bed by 10 if I can get there -- and I don't like loud music of any sort, especially if it's amplified. And how does one take the latest gyrations of Britney, Madonna, Beyonce and crowd remotely seriously? For me, it's just commerce...and I'm not a business writer.

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Vienna, VA ( not Austria!; ): Re: Schnittke's Gesualdo

Since one of the contributors to this forum asked last time about Schnnittke's Gesualdo, one has to point out that the opera was premiered in Vienna by our own Mstislav Rostropovich, in 1995 or 1996, don't remember exactly. The opera was revived by the Vienna State Opera in 1997, conductor being Ernst Marzendorfer - who is best known, if known at all, for his recording of the complete Haydn symphonies. The revival next season is conducted by Jun Markl, who can also be heard with the Baltimore Symphony next year. Isn't it great however that a world class opera house doesn't only premiere contemporary works but also revives them. Cheers for Staatsoper director Ioan Holender!;

Tim Page: Thanks for the information. Glad to pass it on.

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Fairfax, VA: Hello Tim,
Just wondering if you plan on attending/reviewing the performances of Dialogues of the Carmelites? Do you like this opera? Are any good singers appearing?
Also, what is your reaction to the death of Carlos Klieber?

Tim Page: Yes -- I will be covering the first night. I'm looking forward to it.

I think the opera is stronger dramatically than musically: still, a good performance can shock you silly. The Met had a famous staging by John Dexter, which may still be revived upon occasion.

I spoke about Kleiber above.

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Arlington, Va.: I'm a thoroughly uneducated listener of classical music. I've come to enjoy the richness and depth of classical music in comparison with other forms. With the little time I have to read, what books, magazines, newspapers, etc., would you recommend to increase my listening enjoyment.

Tim Page: A note from my editor -- David Segal is not leaving the Post, just leaving pop criticism. I'm glad to hear David's staying around, but I will miss the wit and incision he brought to his coverage of pop -- I envied him his eloquence, if not his late hours!

As for classical music -- start off with the books on great conductors, pianists and composers by Harold C. Schonberg, unusually engaging popular histories that manage to convey a lot of authority. (Forget almost everything Harold wrote about music composed in the 1900s, though -- it wasn't his century.) Michael Steinberg's books on the symphony and concerto repertory are a little more challenging, but worth the effort. Peter G. Davis's book on American singers is first class, as are Maynard Solomon's biographies of Beethoven and Mozart. Richard Taruskin is quirky but authoritative on Russian music, especially Stravinsky. Ned Rorem's diaries permit one a privileged glimpse into the life of a professional composer. And Virgil Thomson, even when he is "wrong," is terrifically interesting -- probably the best newspaper critic we've ever produced.

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Alexandria, VA: A friend tells me that Elvis Costello composed a ballet score that was recently performed at Lincoln Center. Have you heard it? What do you think of his efforts in "serious" music?

Tim Page: He's a very serious musician, whatever medium he is working in. I liked his record with Anne Sofie von Otter a couple of years back -- and I like much of his work on his own. I haven't heard his "classical" piece and so can't really comment on it.

In general, I don't know why brilliant composers writing in pop feel that they have to strive for the grand statement. Duke Ellington's gaseous symphonic studies make him sound like a hack, rather than one of the great geniuses of jazz. And then Paul McCartney -- arguably the most talented surviving Beatle -- just seems ridiculous when he spits out something like the "Liverpool Oratorio."

I guess I believe in some kind of platonic perfection -- and that a simple song does not necessarily improve when it is all blown up and set to strings.

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Alexandria, VA: Ah, I am in my fifties and usually prefer classical music, but I would never EVER lump Beyonce in with Madonna or Britany Spears -- the latter two have no discernible vocal talent whatsoever, while Beyonce seems to be developing nicely as an artist. But, forgiving that lapse in critical judgement, the Post will be lucky to find a new popular music critic with your equivalent level of expertise and your writing style.

Tim Page: Thanks for the nice words -- I was probably too glib in my commentary on Beyonce, having only experienced her on television. That's a bad habit for a critic, and shows incipient crankiness setting in -- another reason to keep me from the pop beat.

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Nani, Texas: Oh I'm so glad you included Marlon Brando in your response above. Surprisingly, he wasn't mentioned at all in the transcript of Desson's program. What did you think of his performance and the music in Guys and Dolls? I found him boyishly charming in that film. (After viewing Streetcar, I was 8 yrs. old, Mother had to console me with a lie. She said the director ran out of film and that Mitch rescued Blanche from the mental hospital and married her after all).

Tim Page: He was a very great actor who didn't seem to take much joy in acting. I liked him best in "Last Tango," which still seems to me a powerful film, despite all the praise and denunciation that have been heaped on it over the past 30 years.

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Bethesda, Md.: Mr. Page
Our teen-aged son, who has been studying classical piano for about 5 years, is now taking lessons for jazz saxophone for his school band. His teacher suggests he listen to very good jazz or rock sax (the E Street Band was one of his suggestions). Could you or your readers recommend recordings we might get him for his upcoming birthday to inspire him? His favorite group is Linkin Park, but we wouldn't mind expanding his horizons. Thanks.

Tim Page: Clarence Clemons is a wonderful sax player -- especially that solo on "Jungleland" on Springsteen's "Born to Run," a record that was released the week I moved to New York City and which still seems to sum my first impressions of the place. (As Gregory Corso said of an earlier era: "New York was fairyland in those days. You walked around with 'Rhapsody in Blue' playing in your head").

Other saxes: Charlie Parker (alto), Lester Young, John Coltrane (tenor and soprano), Gato Barbieri (he did the soundtrack for "Last Tango"), Albert Ayler (a new set of his stuff coming on from Revenant Records this fall). Many others.

The Russian composer Glazunov wrote a good concerto for sax and orchestra.

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Mexico City, M?xico: Can we talk about a new folk or nationalism at country's music, specially in Latin America? There are some young composers writing from "pop" themes, like the Arturo Marquez's "Danz?n No. 2".

Tim Page: I wish I could tell you more about this. Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru -- all have strong and vital musical cultures, about which I know too little.

Readers?

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Vienna, Va.: Do you think the quality of the liner notes for CDs is as good as they once were? LP albums used to have very informative notes written by local newspaper music critics. Now what we get is obtuse ramblings translated from some European arts expert.

Tim Page: I learned a great deal from reading liner notes -- although sometimes I picked up wrong information.

Records had more space for a substantial essay than most CDs allow. I've written more than 200 liner notes and a lot of them are limited to 500 words or less, whereas classical liner notes used to go on to 1000 on some of the old historical LP reissues.

Then again, now and then I have the opportunity to really gas on -- as in my booklet for "Einstein on the Beach," where I was given 3000 words and actually managed to say something.

With the exception of Philip Glass, who is a personal friend of 25 years and somebody I no longer review in the newspaper, I only write liner notes about artists who have retired from performing. Otherwise, I'd feel that I could never review them again.

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Hyderabad (Sindh), Pakistan.: What's your vision about future turn of music pattern that it is today?

Is it reversing back towards those sorts 60's or it would continue its journey towards infinity of being faster and faster what to many people seems irritating something?

Tim Page: I love the thought that we are getting questions from Pakistan! That said, I can't quite decipher this note. And so I'll generalize and say that I think the musical trend is toward everything, that any statement I make will probably turn out to be both true and false. Consonance and chromaticism are both in flower; there are composers writing very gentle music and music that is fiercely aggressive. No set theory rules -- anything can happen. Most of it won't be very interesting, of course, but that's always been the case. Still, I don't think there has ever been a period of such aesthetic freedom.

I hope that helps...

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Newy York: Mr Page hi

Do you have any particular recommendations for recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos. I just don't know where to start really.

Many Thanks

Tim Page: It all depends on what you want from a "Brandenburg." I'd direct you to my list of 25 discs for the new listener -- a link that should be up at the top of the page.

Something wonderful about the "Brandenburgs" -- they are really hard to spoil. I can scarcely think of a recording I don't like, in its own way.

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Bethesda, Md.: Another novice question: how hard (and why) is it to play a stringed instrument? Fingering and quick notes, clearly. But I notice differences of richness of tone between good and great violinists, and I'm not sure if that's the violin itself or if there's something in how they create vibrato?

Tim Page: This is too complicated a question for me to go into today. Instrument, stylistic approach, technique, power -- all these go into making up a performance. Let me recommend a book that may be out of print by the late Boris Schwarz. It is called "Great MAsters of the Violin" and will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about string playing. Schwarz was a splendidly trained artist (he studied with the same master who taught Heifetz) and he wrote about music with a musician's heart, a technician's analytical sense and the soul of an artist. A great and lovable book.

Thanks to all who tuned in. I'll look forward to speaking with you again in two weeks!

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