Wednesday, May 1, 2002; 2 p.m. EDT
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.
"Throughout the chaos and waste of human history, exceptional men and women have managed to create works of rich and lasting art that can truly be called classics. My beat is the world of opera, symphonic and concert music, but I am interested in good music of all kinds and cannot imagine limiting my listening to any one genre. Welcome in."
A transcript follows.
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over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
washingtonpost.com:
Hello. Forgive me for being a little late today. It's one of those very busy days and the time just got away from me. I've got some good questions here and will start answering them in just a moment.
Fairfax, VA:
Tim, I am submitting this in advance as I may be busy during the designated hour. Is the Post sending anyone along with the NSO on their tour of Europe? Maybe yourself? It would be great to get play-by-play (pun intended) coverage of the home team. BTW, I really enjoyed Joshua Bell and the Berstein last week; I disagree that it is one of his lesser works, it seems to me to make a significant statement. Thanks.
Tim Page: This is something of a painful subject with me. As you can imagine, music critics very much enjoy going to Europe -- where so much of the great classical music comes from -- and we don't have many opportunities to get there. When the major orchestras of Cleveland, Philadelphia, St. Louis and even Baltimore toured Europe, a critic from the local newspapers was sent as a matter of course -- and I accompanied the NSO on its European tour in 1997. This time, however, it was decided that such an expense would be a luxury we could not afford.
Still, in fairness to my editors, it should be noted that the world has changed a great deal in the last few months, and times are tough. The Post remains committed to comprehensive coverage of classical music -- we run more reviews than almost any other paper in the country -- and I have arranged for some coverage from critics overseas. So we aren't completely ignoring this very important event.
I'm glad you liked Joshua Bell and the Bernstein. I enjoyed Bell's work enormously, and only wish I liked the "Serenade" more than I do.
Washington, DC:
Tim--
I understand the National Symphony Orchestra has just embarked on a lengthy European tour.I've always wondered how these orchestra tours worked. Is the NSO subsidizing this or do they have corporate sponsors weighing in? What sort of repertoire will the orchestra be playing abroad? How do musicians feel about "if this is Brussels then we must be playing Mahler" mentality? It must be fairly exhausting, don't you think? Like I said, just curious.
Tim Page: There are a number of sponsors for the tour -- and the NSO pays some of the expenses itself. (A fair amount of the sum will be made up in ticket sales, but nowhere near the whole cost.)
Orchestras tour Europe for any number of reasons. In the past, I've found such tours exhausting but exhilarating.
Alexandria, VA:
So when are you going to get to the new Schlesinger Center concert hall at the No. Va. Community College campus to check it out for yourself?
I'd love to see your take on it in the paper. Others on your staff have reviewed concerts there, but since you're the head guy, I'd think it would be important for you to assess it personally. I know it's not in DC, and NOVA is not the University of Maryland. But I personally think it has the finest acoustics of any hall its size (seats 1000) in this area.
Perhaps you can get to a concert yourself that you'd ordinarily send someone else to cover, just to hear the hall. For example, several local choruses not based in Alexandria are choosing to use the hall because of it's good acoustics. Note New Dominion's concert reviewed this week, or the upcoming May 19 Fairfax Choral Society's Verdi Requiem. Or the Post-unreviewed 1Mount Vernon Orchestra's Bloch Sacred Service (I sang in that one) last month.
Tim Page: Hi. I'd love to get there, but I don't drive and hesitate to charge the Post for the rather exorbitant taxi fares that it would cost to get me there. (See my answer to Question One -- times are tough.) Believe me, I will try to get out to the Schlesinger Center as soon as I can. In the meantime, I'll make sure that some of our more mobile writers cover the beat.
Gaithersburg:
Opera tickets are notoriously costly, since operas are expensive to put on. Are there any professional companies between Richmond and New York that are less costly than the top ones and still pretty good?
Tim Page: Look into the work of the Virginia Opera, run out of Norfolk and Richmond by Peter Mark. I've very much enjoyed the productions I've seen by them. Opera Company of Philadelphia is supposedly in the ascendent. And don't forget some of the smaller opera companies around here. There is a "Princess Ida" coming this weekend to Georgetown, and the University of Maryland is presenting Monteverdi's "Coronation of Poppea" at the Clarice Smith Center, too. There must be some other companies which are slipping my mind.
Also -- try to get rush or standing room tickets from the larger companies. You can sometimes do very well indeed.
Laurel, Maryland:
Was the NSO supposed to cover your costs to Europe, or the Washington Post? With the increased price of the newspaper, I would think that the paper would be in good financial shape; unlike the orchestra.
Tim Page: We would never accept any help from the NSO for European coverage. It was an editorial decision by the Washington Post not to cover the tour. I can't pretend I'm in agreement with it, but I do know that we have been under pretty severe budget constraints. These are not easy times.
Washington, D.C.:
Hi Tim. I would like to know if you enjoy the music of Maurice Jarre'. He scored three of David Lean's finest films: "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Doctor Zhivago" (1965) and the beautiful "Ryan's Daughter" (1969), a story about Ireland. I've never been to Ireland but I associate the music from "Ryan's Daughter" with Ireland.
What can you tell about the career of Arthur Pryor (1870-1942)? He was a trombone soloist with John Philip Sousa's band and once considered to be Sousa's greatest protege.
Tim Page: Jarre seems to me a fine film composer. I must say I think Lean overdoes the music a little bit in "Lawrence of Arabia" -- anytime Peter O'Toole says anything at all, we get a huge rush of orchestral color that tends to drown the action. "Dr. Zhivago" is better, but still a little "over-scored" for my taste, although the music is handsome indeed.
I like Ingmar Bergman's use of music in his films. It is only there when it is needed. Think of "Cries and Whispers," which uses only the Chopin Mazurka, Op. 17, No. 4, and the "Sarabande" from the Bach Cello Suite No. 5 but makes every single note count.
Other scores I like: "Chinatown" (Elmer Bernstein); "Providence" (Miklos Rosza); "King Rat" (John Barry); "Shoot the Piano Player" and "Interlude" (Georges Delerue); "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (Alex North as Vivaldi); and a lot of the scores of Bernard Herrmann. Philip Glass's score for "Koyaanisqatsi" completely transformed the mating of music and image forever -- turn on the television and its illegitimate offspring are everywhere, in ads, in the news, in themes.
Washington, D.C.:
Tim, what exactly is "Opera Imaginaire?"
Tim Page: I have no idea. Can anybody help this reader?
Rockville, Md.:
Are minorities being fairly represented in the arts? I see few negroes in classical music productions with the exception of large choruses. I also noticed that the negro announcer on 103.5 was dumped without ceremony. This can't help bring in new people for the audience.
Tim Page: I have a great deal of difficulty thinking along these lines. Certainly, there are no barriers to keep people out -- and, indeed, there are a number of celebrated African-American artists working in the field of classical music. (Pianists Andre Watts and Awadagin Pratt; sopranos Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle; any number of others.) I have no idea what happened at 103.5, but classical radio stations are always in a state of flux, and I can't imagine that race played any part in whatever decision may have been made there.
I am totally opposed to quotas. Orchestras have no more need to be "fairly representational" than basketball teams or jazz bands or associations of Chinese restauranteurs. I believe in hiring the best people for the job -- be they black, white, brown or purple.
DC:
"Opera Imaginaire" offers a unique take on the classics of Mozart, Bizet and Verdi through animation. Twelve popular arias are brought to life through the interpretations of some of Europe's most talented animators. Films by Ken Lidster, Monique Renault, Pascal Roulin, Jonathan Hills, Jimmy Murakami, Raimund Krumme, Stephen Palmer, Hilary Audus, Guionne Leroy and Jose Abel."
Its from 1995, and available , I think, on VHS for purchase, library loan or rental.
Tim Page: Thanks so much. I thought I'd heard of it.
Nani/Texas:
May I say thank you to Capital Hill, who last week provided me with the title of a piece I was seeking played by Joshua Bell, Massanet's Meditation from Thais. I've ordered his Chausson: Poeme album and can't wait to hear it.
Yours is such a lovely chat. Everyone is so kind and it makes for a delicious break in the workday.
Tim Page: Glad we could help.
Washington, DC:
"Opera Imaginaire" is a French, animated film (or series of films) pairing arias and duets with animation. They are lovely. Try to see them--they turn up in odd places in the PBS schedule, occasionally.
Tim Page: Sounds like I should have known this. Thanks to all readers who responded.
Bethesda:
What are "rush tickets" from the larger opera companies? How much are they? Thanks.
Tim Page: Every company has its own policy. You should call whatever organization is offering an opera you want to see and find out whether there are discounted, "last minute" tickets. Often, these are limited to students, but not always. And standing room is sometimes an option.
Ogden, Utah:
How can regional symphony orchestras survive without classical msuic stations to help promote them?
Tim Page: I think regional orchestras are going to have a tough time of it anyway. The big orchestras (most of them) are in good financial shape, while the orchestras made up of enlightened amateurs will manage to keep afloat simply through the love of their players. But the smaller professional American orchestras are in a tough bind, it seems to me.
As for the question about radio play, I would guess that the orchestras will have to take out advertisements on other stations. The decline of classical music radio is saddening but not entirely unexpected. Perhaps the internet will eventually provide a way out.
Nani/Texas:
May I say thank you to Capital Hill, who last week provided me with the title of a piece I was seeking played by Joshua Bell, Massanet's Meditation from Thais. I've ordered his Chausson: Poeme album and can't wait to hear it.
Yours is such a lovely chat. Everyone is so kind and it makes for a delicious break in the workday.
Tim Page: Thanks so much. I greatly appreciate it when readers help me out on questions to which I don't know the answers.
Washington, DC:
Are you ever told to go easy on "stars" who might be having an "off" night? I have heard recitals by people, like Pinchas Zuckerman and Itzhak Perlman who were basically coasting.
Tim Page: I've never been told to "go easy" on anybody. As a matter of fact, I generally believe that such "stars" should be held to the highest standards -- and I would be more strict with them than I would be with some scared debutante just out of Juilliard.
Arlington, VA:
Top price at Wolf Trap for opera this summer is $48. They are presenting Don Pasquale, Xerxes and Street Scene.
Tim Page: Thank you!
Pittsburgh, PA:
In response to the poster from Rockville, I would argue that the classical music world has been ahead of the rest of the countries when it comes to breaking down racial barriers. In 1960, when integration required sending in the National Guard in some parts of the country, Leontyne Price and Franco Corelli were thrilling audiences at the Met as the lovers in "Il Trovatore"
Tim Page: Very true. Thank you.
Rockville, MD:
Hi Tim:
I think you meant Jerry Goldsmith rather than Elmer Bernstein for "Chinatown." And I agree--very evocative score for a very evocative film.
Tim Page: Thank you for catching me on that. What was it by Elmer Bernstein I was thinking of? Hmmmm. Leonard Bernstein (no relation) did a fine job with "On the Waterfront."
DC:
I believe that the producer/host of "SymphonyCast" on NPR, Corva Colman, is African-American. And next year the NSO will program a work by Washington, D.C. born classical composer, Jeffrey Mumford; an African-American teaching music at Oberlin. I agree with the writer that it is unfortunate that more minorities are not encouraged to study classical music, and strive for positions in our finest orchestras.
Tim Page: Thank you. And yes, I agree -- music should be open to anybody.
Nani/Texas:
There are some animated films set to classical music made by Disney in the 1940s that are just wonderful. My granddaughters just love them. The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met (Nelson Eddie sings tenor, baritone and bass), Peter and the Wolf, Ballade Ballet (live action ballet dancers with animated backgrounds).
Tim Page: Anybody remember an old 78 record called "Rum de Diddle, the Runaway Fiddle"? I think that came from a film. It was one of the first records I ever had.
Takoma Park, MD:
I picked up an interesting looking autobiography of David Amram, dated mid-sixties. I suspect the bio is more interesting than his work, as what I vaguely remember hearing was sort of nouvelle and ordinary.
Is the book a good period piece? Should I try listening again?
Tim Page: I've enjoyed some of Amram's work -- and he certainly has had an interesting life. I would imagine the book would be a lot of fun.
Other good musical autobiographies -- Berlioz, Gottschalk, Frances Alda (soprano), Arthur Rubinstein (the first one -- although don't believe all of it), Rudolf Bing ("5000 Nights at the Opera"), Schuyler Chapin (manager and Met director). Can anybody add to the list?
Washington, D.C.:
What are your general feelings towards amplification in the concert hall?
Tim Page: It depends on the hall and depends on the piece. I don't like it in the opera house -- and would only want it in a very few symphonic settings. (Amplification is pretty much of a must outdoors.) Of course, some music needs amplification -- a lot of rock and jazz, some avant-garde works, and even an occasional piece of concert music.
Tim Page:
Well, we've come to the end of another session. It was good talking with you today, and I'll look forward, with pleasure, to continuing the discussion in another two weeks.
Go out and enjoy this beautiful weather -- and I'll be speaking with you soon.
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