• Classical Music Forum Archive • Entertainment Guide: Music • Recent stories by Tim Page • Talk: Entertainment message boards • Live Online Transcripts • mywashingtonpost. com -- customized news, traffic, weather and more

Wednesday, March 20, 2002; 2 p.m. EST

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" (to be published in September by 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.

Submit your questions and comments before or during today's discussion.

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.

Tim Page: Good afternoon -- and welcome to another on-line chat. Two weeks ago, it was a gorgeous afternoon, and I felt very deprived having to stay indoors. Today it is rainy and cold and I seem to have caught THE bug that is going around town (the Post is awash in Kleenex) but I've staggered to my computer and hope to get to as many of your questions as possible.

Remember, this is a live chat, so you are welcome to throw out questions as they occur to you.

Rockville, Md.: Can you ask the technical crew to update the archives for this forum? The last one is January 7.

Tim Page: Just passing this along...thanks!

Rockville, Md.: I'm curious as to why critics are always first out of the hall (whether on deadline or not) never measuring audience reactions or listening to encores. For example, a couple of Saturdays ago you missed four dazzling encore pieces by Lang Lang including one performed with his father on a Chinese stringed instrument. For those of us who stayed, it was very much a part of the performance experience.

Tim Page: Thanks for the question, which I'm sure has occurred to many readers. There are a number of answers to this one -- traditionally, the encore has been considered a "gift" to the audience and therefore not something to be critiqued in the same way as the rest of the program. (This is the same reason that benefits are rarely subjected to the fiercest scrutiny -- the very performance itself is considered a gift.) If the performer wants something covered, it should be placed on the formal program.

Audience reactions are not something a critic should take into account. If I told you about all the concerts I've attended (and even one or two I produced) where the attendance in the hall was all friends and family, I'd spend my whole hour on this question. We go, we say what we thought, and that is enough.

Frankly, my problem with the prodigiously talented Lang Lang's concert was that he played far too many "dazzling encore pieces." If I'd been told he was going to play something a little introspective, I might have changed my mind and stayed for the encores. I am terribly afraid that Lang Lang is turning into a virtuoso, when he has the capacity to be a musician.

Alexandria, Va.: Do you happen to have any information about good summer music camps in the Washington area (preferably Northern Virginia) for high school and middle school students who are interested in an emphasis on classical music (i.e., orchestra music rather than band music)?

Tim Page: Let me throw this out to the audience. I'll put your answers right on the web.

Malthus, SF, CA: Besides Motzart's, what other requiems have you found to be the most beautiful and lasting? My favorite has always been Faure's, but I'm on the hunt for others!

Tim Page: I'm crazy about the Faure -- so chaste and thoughtful and pure. Verdi's Requiem offers the exact opposite -- hellfire and brimstone. Berlioz's Requiem -- to be performed this Sunday -- is very strange. I'm also very fond of the Delius Requiem -- an agnostic, Nietzchean Requiem on the theme of "eternal renewal." And the Durufle Requiem (almost the only piece we hear by this composer) is very much in the manner of Faure.

Arlington,VA: I am a fan of Arvo Part's music. Do you know of any local performances scheduled? I understand much of the classical music establishment don't care for Part -- are there any pieces of his you like?

Tim Page: I greatly admire some of Part's music. His best record seems to me his first -- "Tabula Rasa," which came out on the ECM label sometime in the mid 1980s and had us all gasping at its spare beauty. "Passio" is proper and rather dull. The early symphonic pieces are unremarkable, although the first symphony has its moments.

There is a section of the classical music establishment that doesn't like anything that might prove popular, or anything direct, or anything uncomplicated. I wouldn't pay this subcult much mind.

(I realize that sounds rather snide -- and I don't mean it to be. I'm sure there are a lot of sincere Part-dislikers in the world who are not following any party line...)

T

Washington, DC: What is your opinion on Washington Concert Opera's choice of Antony Walker?
Do you think he can produce Operas as interesting and "star-studded" as Stephen Crout?

Tim Page: I have my hopes. We'll have to wait and listen.

Reston VA: This may be a left field question. I am searching for a new choir to sing in for the coming fall and am wondering what groups stand out, especially in Northern VA. I have heard many good things about Voce and the Fairfax Choral Society.

Tim Page: Can anybody help this person?

Washington, D.C.: Good Afternoon, Mr. Page. It promises to be a great fortnight for choral music in the Nation's Capital - with WETA-FM broadcasting LIVE both the superb Choral Arts Society concert last Friday, and this coming Sunday's 3 P.M. performance by the superb Washington Chorus of Berlioz's "Requiem". WETA deserves our thanks for this, as it does for stepping in and saving the regional MET opera broadcast.
--
My question for you: Have you, as of yet, had time to listen to Sofia Gubaidulina's very beautiful new setting of the St. John Passion; and if so, do you have any plans to review the new recording of it in the Washington Post? Also, since the recording is conducted by Washington's new semi-permanent guest conductor Valery Gergiev, do you know whether he will be conducting choral music, as well as opera and orchestral music, in the Nation's Capital over the next ten years? Thank you.

Tim Page: I'm glad WETA is broadcasting these events. I've not heard the Gubaidulina work -- she is not generally one of my favorite composers -- but will try to listen should somebody send it to me. As for Gergiev, he's a pretty busy man. It would be interesting to hear what he'd do with the choral literature.

re: music camps: I'm not too up on ones specifically in Northern VA, but the Levine School of Music in NW DC has a string camp in the summer, at least they did last year. There is another larger one that's a week long or so in the Shenandoah Valley area, at one of the resorts there, where families are encouraged to stay with the students for a week of recreation and music making. Unfortunately, I can't recall the name, but some of the local string teachers may know.

Tim Page: Here is an answer. Thank you!

Washington, DC: Wow. How could you leave out the Brahms German Requiem among the great requiems? What don't you like about it?

Tim Page: Pure oversight! It is one of my favorite works -- marvelously grand and gloomy and serious, and just the right sort of music to accompany a day like this. Caviar for pessimists.

A surprising number of critics don't like the German Requiem, though, among them my friend Terry Teachout. He has some distinguished company, though -- George Bernard Shaw admitted that it was a "well made" work, and then added that it could only have come from the establishment of a first-class undertaker!

Alexandria, VA: HI TIM:

Just saw the new DVD of John Adams' El Nino. I can't say I appreciate director Peter Sellar's video vision, but the music of this oratorio/opera is truly wonderful, as are the performances by Dawn Upshaw, Lorraine Hunt Leiberson and Willard White.

I get the impression you're not a big fan of Mr Adams. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Or am I wrong?

P.S. Tsk, tsk, too, to the major U.S. opera companies for not reviving Adams' Nixon in China. A genuine 20th century masterpiece, IMHO.

Tim Page: I've listened to El Nino once, and probably should listen to it again. I'm always bewildered by the admiration "Nixon In China" inspires in some circles, including among some critics and musicians I esteem highly. To me, it's just "Satyagraha" and sugar water.

Re: Requiems: The Paul Hill Chorale (before it changed names) sang a haunting, more modernistic requiem by a Finnish composer, Kokkonnen I think? The orchestra from the Sibelius Academy school came over to accompany. Dazzling! Did you hear it at the Kennedy Center?

Tim Page: Yes! I remember the day vividly. I covered it for the Post and my review should be somewhere on line. Joonas Kokkonen was one of several splendid Finnish composers who made names for themselves in the last part of the 20th century. I think I like the work of Aulis Sallinen and Einojuhani Rautavaara even better.

Washington: Did you mean Arvo Paert's Third Symphony, rather than his First Symphony? The Third (1971) is, to me and many others, his most beautiful symphony. It was performed at the Kennedy Center two years ago by a Swedish orchestra.

Tim Page: I don't think I know the Symphony No. 3. I heard somebody conduct the Symphony No. 1 in St. Louis and admired it quite a bit. It was an early piece, with some 12-tone elements in it, but straightforward and admirably orchestrated.

Durufle Fan: I too recommend the Durufle Requiem. I performed this piece a couple of years ago with the McLean Choral Society and it still sticks in my head.

Tim Page: Yes, it is a wonderful and contemplative piece. A good performance can follow one around for weeks.

Charleston, SC: Do you know if The St. Louis Symphony struggles are all financial, or did Slatkin take some of the spirit with him?

Tim Page: I used to work for the SLSO, so really shouldn't comment on its financial or artistic travails, except to hope that they are soon over.

Washington DC: Thanks for your recent Charles Ives CD review. It’s a pity, though, that his work is so underperformed that we have to rely on recordings to experience it. And yes, I was at the NSO performance of one of symphonies last year, which is one reason I hanker for more. I take it that the Baltimore Symphony under Zinman used to perform American works--Termirkanov’s taste in American composers (or it is his knowledge of them?) extends only to Gershwin, which to me is not nearly far enough.

Tim Page: Thanks for your good words. You should have been around in the late 1960s and through the 1970s when Ives was simply inescapable. I'm told the NSO did a grand job with the Symphony No. 4, which really needs a good bit of touching up before it is performable.

Nani/Texas: A few years ago, an operatic version of Tennessee Williams' Streetcar Named Desire was telecast on the public television station. Did you see it? Your comments?

Tim Page: I reviewed the opera for the Post when it was first performed, about 1998. I wonder if my erstwhile producer can find that review and post it?

For the person looking for choirs: I sing with the Master Chorale of Washington (formerly the Paul Hill Chorale) and we have a TON of people who haul in from Virginia to sing with our group. Our conductor, Don, is wonderfully gifted and a pleasure to sing for. We have a very professional attitude, as well as a great community of singers. This is my fourth year in the choir, and I LOVE it.

Tim Page: Another answer for our would be singers!

Bethesda: Mr. Page, you recently said that the National Symphony, under conductor-emeritus Mstislav Rostropovich programmed too much Russian music. Would you not concur that the Orchestra and the Kennedy Center are, similarly, going overboard with Russian music? In your opinion, do we really need major Tchaikowsky Festivals from each - the Symphony's "Composer Portrait Festival" and the Center's multi-month Tchaikowsky Festival in 2003?

Tim Page: Well, the Tchaikovsky festival certainly isn't the most interesting part of the Kennedy Center's programming for next season. But I'm so happy with the rest of what's coming up that I can easily live with some Tchaikovsky. And -- to state the obvious -- he really is an extraordinary composer, one who grows in stature year after year. I look forward to seeing what the KC comes up with.

Laurel, MD: You indicated that the National Symphony's Leonard Slatkin earns about $1 million a year from the orchestra. Elsewhere, your paper reports that the Kennedy Center's hard-working Executive Director, Michael Kaiser, earns circa $333,000 a year. In your view, is Slatkin worth three times Mr. Kaiser for 16 weeks a year work?

Tim Page: Celebrated conductors make more than equally celebrated administrators. It's like comparing doctors and teachers -- both provide invaluable services but one group receives greater financial rewards. It seems to be the way of the world.

Washington, D.C.: Hello Tim,

Thank you for your excellent review of the Master Chorale of Washington's Verdi Requiem. I attended the concert as well and felt that your comments were spot-on, though I wish you had lauded the mezzo-soprano more; I thought she was outstanding!

I have noticed, in my following of the D.C. choral music scene for several years, this chorus seems to have been been consistently overlooked. I am unsure why that is. We know the Washington Chorus has a Grammy, and the Choral Arts Society of Washington has a longstanding reputation, and they both do highly publicized concerts with the NSO, etc; however, Donald McCullough has truly raised the bar of the Master Chorale and quietly created a first-rate chorus. What are your thoughts on that transformation and the Master Chorale's place in choral music in DC? Will we see them more often and are they getting more respect from the NSO and Kennedy Center with their constant improvement each year?

Tim Page: Thanks for the good words. Washington is blessed with a number of fine choral groups. I don't think I should compare one to another, especially since I'm just back on the job and haven't heard them all recently.

Re: local choirs: I've sung both with Paul Hill and the Fairfax Choral Society--both do great music, have superb direction, and really challenge you to stretch and grow as a musician. I ended up living too far west to participate with either group easily, but if you're closer in, take your pick!

Tim Page: This seems to fit with the question asked a moment ago.

McLean: Hello. What can audiences expect from the NSO's new assistant conductor Emil de Cou, and the NSO's new composer in residence, Stewart Wallace? You have written that you are very excited about the young violinist Nurit Bar-Joseph, as the symphony's concertmaster. Are you similarly excited by the appointments of the other two young leaders?

Tim Page: I've only heard one work by Mr. Wallace (under unfortunate circumstances) and I've never heard Emil de Cou at all. My excitement about Ms. Bar-Josef came about after I'd heard her and heard what she'd done for the NSO.

Washington, D.C.: Do you have any desire to work for the National Symphony Orchestra?

Tim Page: No. I've worked for one orchestra and that was quite enough. That's not to disparage the orchestra I worked for -- the St. Louis Symphony -- for it is a great ensemble. But I'm not really cut out to be an administrator and bureaucratic work drives me nuts. I knew I wasn't right for the administrator's life when we had a two hour meeting about the proper way to have meetings.

BRAHMS!!!: I've sung the Mozart, Faure (snore), Brahms, and Verdi requiems, and I have a recording of the Durufle. Brahms outshines them all from a singer's standpoint, as it is the most challenging vocally (for sopranos, anyway) I think the Verdi is the most exciting. Faure is beautiful and serene, but boring to sing. Mozart is also fantastic ("confutatis, maledictis... section is great!")

LOVE them Brahms the most.

Tim Page: Thanks for the thoughts!

Bethesda, Md.: Tim: Do you have any information on when the Strathmore Concert Hall facility will be opened in Montgomery County? Has there been any indication of what it will be used for besides the second home of the BSO?

Tim Page: We've carried the date before but I don't have it in front of me. Maybe somebody can help refresh the memory?

Bethesda, Md.: Mr. Page: You may think this a wholly inappropriate question for the "classical" music forum, because I'm going to ask about rock music. But bear with me, please. I'm a classical musician -- fancy schools, famous teachers, even managed to make a (poor) living at it for a while -- and I've always looked down my nose at rock music. Have I been missing something? I've tried listening to rock music on the radio; it's unpleasant noise with a steady beat, a mish mash of electronic muck. (Oh dear, is there any hope for me?) I think I'm open minded. I've played so-called new music, go to new music concerts. Gosh, I even have friends who are composers. So it's not as if I think that nothing good's been written since Brahms died. But you've made me doubt myself. You appreciate rock music. And I trust you. I love your reviews (I go to those concerts, too -- if you think what I think, you must have good judgment, right?) and these online sessions. I have huge respect for your opinion. So tell me what rock music you like -- what performers should I listen to so I can open my mind to some new sounds and a different way of thinking about music. (Just to show you I'm serious about this, I already went looking for the Magnetic Fields CDs you recommended -- Tower was all out.)

Thanks so much for enriching the music scene in Washington!

Tim Page: What a nice message. People have different tastes in popular music -- I simply can't abide most reggae, for instance, which a lot of my friends love. In fact, most classical music buffs have a "blind spot" or two (Bruckner and Wagner are two composers commonly derided, while other listeners love them).

You can't go wrong with the best of the 1960s groups -- Beatles, Beach Boys, Kinks, maybe the Stones, certainly the Velvet Underground. These days, I like some of Stereolab ("Mars Audiac Quintet," "Peng" and "Emperor Tomato Ketchup" especially), the High Llamas ("Gideon Gaye," "Cold and Bouncy"), and the Mag Fields. They are very different, but share a committment to craft, superior songwriting, unusual timbres, and a certain fascination with repetition that speaks very directly to me. Leonard Cohen is still writing great songs at age almost-70. Hmmm...there are a number of others.

RE: String Camps: You may want to contact the Friday Morning Music Club (www.fmmc.org).
I dont think they run camps, but they sponsor several competitions for students during the year and may be able to point you in the right direction.

Tim Page: Thank you!

D.C.: The Johannes Ockeghem Requiem has been around for 500 years. Let's not slight early music, especially in D.C.; one of its stronger homes.

Tim Page: A good point. Thanks.

Baltimore: I very much enjoy classical music, but have no collection of my own. What would you suggest as a few "starter" CDs? Thanks.

Tim Page: We did this question in depth a couple of sessions back. Forgive me, but I'm going to refer you to that, simply because we're running out of time.

Charleston, S.C.: I notice lots of classical radio stations play "Classical McNuggets," excerpts from pieces. What affect will this have, and is it the beginning of a time when we'll only be hearing familiar snippets on the air or Internet?

Tim Page: I think the Internet should be able to stand up against such fragmentation. All too many classical stations already only play movements only -- a real disservice to those who are genuinely interested in learning the art. But maybe classical radio isn't the place to go for that anymore.

Herndon, Va.: Tim,

I'd like to thank you for your past articles on avant-classical music (aka "New Music," "20th Century Music") and avant-garde music in general. Those articles have really spiced up The Post's general music coverage in the past.

With that said, are you planning any future articles on avant-related topics?

Tim Page: Thanks so much. Right now, I'm simply trying to make it through the season. By the time summer rolls around, I hope I'll have the time to take a longer view. Your words of encouragement are inspirational -- let's see if I can come up with something.

DC: Montgomery County's new Strathmore Hall, a 2,000-seat concert hall and music education complex, is scheduled to open in 2004.

Tim Page: Thank you.

Washington, D.C.: Good afternoon, Mr. Page. I am a young man interested in expanding my musical knowledge. I've always enjoyed listening to classical music, and I do so fairly often (my favorites include Beethoven, Bach, Schubert, Mussorgsky, Mozart, Ravel, and Rachmaninov.) Unfortunately, though, I am not thoroughly trained in the ability to listen to classical music. Can you suggest any books that would add to my appreciation of the classics, or can you add any essential albums that I should own?

Any help would be highly appreciated. Thank you!

Tim Page: Harold C. Schonberg's "The Lives of the Great Composers" is a terrific introductory volume. Michael Steinberg's books on the symphony and the concertos are a little more technical but well worth investigation.

St Louis, Mo.: I read in The Post that record companies are losing money and cutting back recording contracts. How many labels still record classical music? How many classicl musicians have contracts? How many orchestras?

Tim Page: I did a big article on the crisis in classical music recording back in 1996 that ran in the Post. It was called "The Way The Music Dies." Maybe we can post it here again?

Things have only gotten worse. I think this article will give you some idea why that is so.

Tim Page: I've just been told that we can't pull the "Streetcar" review because it is long ago and far away! As I recall, I thought the opera had some excellent music but seemed rather too grand for such a down and dirty piece of theater. (No cut intended -- imagine "Cavalleria Rusticana" as it might have been set by one of the Strausses and you'll have a good idea of what I mean. It's a tough, mean play, and the opera was downright luxuriant.)

Tim Page: I'm afraid we are out of time. At least we got to most of the questions today. We'll talk again in two weeks -- and by then I hope we'll have those articles I mentioned. Hope to see you all at the Berlioz Requiem.

   |      |