Wednesday, July 10, 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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Tim Page: Good afternoon from a small village on the shores of Nova Scotia. It is heavenly up here -- about 65 and sunny during the day, going down to 50 degrees -- and the so-called Real World seems ever so far away. But I understand there are a number of fine concerts going on back home -- even a Bach Festival in Georgetown. It's really amazing how much richer summer musical life in Washington is than it was a decade ago. Well, I'll be back soon enough and I'm anxious to start reviewing again. For now, I'm listening to some favorite records, watching a lot of video tapes, going through "The Power Broker" once again (Robert Caro's study of Robert Moses is even more engaging than his Johnson bio, and a must for anybody interested in urban studies) and simply relaxing.
I have a few questions in the bank but could probably take some more of them if you care to submit them.
Atlanta:
Now that the Great Pavarotti (who hasn't really been great for at least a decade) seems to be off the opera stage, the Post is now hyping a likeable young tenor named Salvatore Licitra. Who makes these decisions? I've heard Licitra on CD and I've heard him live in the theater and, frankly, he's a solid singer in the Italian tradition. As of now, nothing more.
What's so troubling is the Washington Post accepting as Scripture an idea that was initially a crude marketing play -- "The THREE tenors," nevermind that from its origin one of the three had almost completely lost his voice -- and throwing away its own critical objectivity. Licitra might be the FOURTH tenor? Whose logic is that? Sony Classical, which sells Licitra's CDs?
I remember back in the 1950s, when Maria Callas was billed as "the new Rosa Ponselle." Boy, does that promotion look ignorant in hindsight. If Licitra is going to make a lasting mark in the opera world, it will be on his own merits, on his own personality. When the Post -- on its front page, no less -- suggests that Licitra is Pav's heir, the paper risks looking very naive, and very shallow in its arts coverage.
Tim Page: Yes, it was rather a shock to find that on the front page today, wasn't it? In all candor, I knew nothing about the article and would have argued strenuously against running it (particularly in such a place of honor) had I been consulted. More than that, I'd better not say.
To belabor the obvious, there are many more than three tenors working today. The idea of "replacing" Pavarotti is preposterous -- every artist is unique and therefore irreplaceable by nature. As for the "Three Tenors" without Pavarotti -- well, that would be a little like the Three Stooges without Curly. It can be done -- as Shemp fans will attest -- but is it wise?
Washington:
If you go on vacation this summer, is there any chance that Philip Kennicott will review some concerts?
Tim Page: I am on vacation right now, and won't be back for about ten days.
It is certainly conceivable that Philip might review a concert for us again, but don't forget that we already have a very talented group of people writing for us on a regular basis -- Ronald Broun, Joe Banno, Cecilia Porter, Joan Reinthaler, Tom Huizenga, Peat O'Neil and our own Joseph McLellan, among others. Philip is working as a culture reporter now -- watch for his byline.
Arlington, VA:
You can make one commission for a major orchestral piece for the NSO. Money is not an object. Which composer do you choose?
Tim Page: Wow. Maybe Einojuhani Rautavaara, probably Finland's best composer (out of a number of fine ones). If Ralph Shapey were still living, he would likely have been my choice. Milton Babbitt is a wonderful composer and much misunderstood, in my opinion. Hmmmm...would Sondheim want to write something for orchestra? (He did the score for "Stavisky" some time ago, a strange or ornate film by Alain Resnais.) Maybe some really interesting pop person -- Sean O'Hagan? Stephin Merritt?
Stephen Hartke is an excellent composer, as is Scott Wheeler. Paul Dresher strikes me as vastly underrated.
Well, that's a start.
Washington DC:
Go to any serious music concert and a large block of the very best seats (sometimes hundreds) are reserved for the artist to give away. I’ve seen this everywhere: Philip Glass concerts, Wolf Trap Barns, National Gallery sunday concerts, Denyce Graves recitals. Can orchestras and musicians afford to preen themselves as playthings of insiders and elites in an age of shrinking revenues and attendance? Stokowski wouldn’t give even music critics free tickets and he was one of the greatest conductors. Where are the Stokowskis of today who will give concerts back to the audience?
Tim Page: Hmmmm. I think you're wrong about Stokowski -- rarely has any conductor loved publicity as much as he did, and his critics certainly couldn't have afforded to buy their tickets. It seems to me that a visiting artist is entitled to have a few seats at his/her disposal.
It is customary for performing arts organizations to hold a number of house seats for unexpected guests -- visiting musicians, managers, and so on. However, those are usually paid for.
Laurel, MD:
Hi. Why do you think that Finland is suddenly producing so many fine composers?
Something in the air?
Tim Page: Finland places a high premium on musical literacy and esteems talent to a degree that is almost impossible to imagine in 2002 America. Remember that this is the country that awarded Sibelius a pension when he was in his early 30s, permitting him to follow his own muse, rather than the dictates of commerce. The arts are generously supported; the people are both smart and educated.
I also think that Finland's spiritual and geographic remove from the classical music mainstream has enforced an unusual creative independence.
Bethesda, MD:
Is Placido Domingo powerful enough with the
Washington Post to have placed the Licitra story on page A1 this morning?
Tim Page: I assume you are joking -- and certainly hope so.
I had hoped to hear Licitra at the Met earlier this year, but we have been cutting back on our traveling. I certainly hope that I get a chance to hear the "New Pavarotti," now that he has been so christened by my own paper. I hear tell that he has talent.
Arlington, VA:
What has been the consensus of the quality of the three Washington Opera productions now touring Japan? The "Post" had a good article the other day including interviews with Domingo and Japanese administrators involved in the process and stated that while "Otello" had been selling well due to Domingo's popularity, the other two productions were selling at a less robust pace. What do the critics say?
Tim Page: I'm told that both productions are selling pretty well. Domingo as "Otello" will sell out immediately, at any theater in the world, I should think, for it is one of the great characterizations of our time. But my sources tell me that the tour is going very well indeed -- with all but a few seats usually gone by show time.
Washington, D.C.:
Hi Tim --
Placido Domingo and the Los Angeles Opera have apparently commissioned John Williams (the composer, not the guitarist) to write a new opera for the Los Angeles Opera company. Are you at liberty to tell us what its going to be about? (Most of us know his writing style from his movie work.) Since Domingo heads both the Los Angeles Opera and the Washington Opera, do you know whether they are planning to perform the opera here as well? Thanks.
Tim Page: Well, if any opera company in the country was going to commission an opera from John Williams, it would make sense that L.A. would be the one that went ahead with it.
I confess a marked distaste for Williams's "Star Wars" music but he certainly knows how to mate music with action, as he has proven in any number of films. Given the right librettist, he may surprise us. I never believe in reviewing anything before I've heard it -- although I will confess I was sorely tempted when I heard John Adams was writing a piece about 9/11 for the New York Philharmonic.
Houston, Tex.:
Please say something about the lack of interest in the Tchaikosky competition.
This cannot be good for classical music.
Tim Page: I'm not a great fan of competitions, so I'm probably the wrong critic to ask about this. I can't think of the last time the Tchaikovsky -- or, for that matter, its American counterpart, the Van Cliburn -- has awarded first prize to a musician who really interested me.
Fairfax, Virginia:
Wow. Do you like Stephin Merritt's Gothic Archies band or his Future Bible Heroes band better?
Tim Page: Future Bible Heroes -- at least, their first album, which is delicious, frothy pop ("Lonely Days" is a perfect song). But I'm fondest of Merritt's work with the Magnetic Fields. I consider "69 Love Songs" a milestone in American popular music.
It's funny. Merritt has four different bands, all of which represent different aspects of his aesthetic. Brilliant guy.
N.C. Ave.:
So any chance the Post will send you to Florence to hear Licitra sing his first Edgardo?
It might be one of the most important classical music events of our day.
Tim Page: There's a chance, I suppose.
Arlington, VA:
I don't have a good ear for music. How can I learn to appreciate music, specially classical. Although I enjoy listening to classical music, I find my mind drifting away and not hearing anything after a few minutes.
I think music is one of joys of life which I am completely missing out on.
Tim Page: You probably understand music better than you think you do -- such is usually the case. And I wouldn't worry too much about "drifting away" while you are listening, particularly while you are getting started. Music is supposed to take you places, and following the emotional argument of a piece can be just as meaningful as listening analytically -- especially the first time you hear it.
Alexandria,VA:
I recently purchased Simon Rattle's new recording of Gurre-Lieder (sp.) and have been following it with the help of a piano score from the D.C. library. What do you think of this work? I'm really enjoying the music but the texts seem rather second-rate (or maybe it's the translation?)
Tim Page: I'm crazy about the first seven or eight minutes of Gurre-Lieder -- some of my favorite music -- and there are many other beauties in the score. I'm fond of those great big late-romantic choral pieces -- the Mahler Symphony No. 8, Strauss's "Elektra," Pfitzner's "Von Deutsche Seele" and Schmidt's "Book of the Seven Seals." I don't know how strong the texts are -- my German is minimal -- but the music certainly compels close listening.
Ye Olde Towne Alexandria:
Mr. Page,
I'm a relative newcomer to classical music, both live and recorded. Is there some strong reason I should seek out CDs of music conducted by non-contemporaries? So far I'm content with conductors like Harnoncourt, John Eliot Gardiner, Hogwood, Norrington, Colin Davis, Rattle, Wand, Abaddo, Chailly, Boulez, etc., and I see no strong reason to go backwards. Note: So far I'm much more interested in what Beethoven intended than in how he was conducted and played in the early and mid 20th century.
Tim Page: You mention a great many names -- and they inspire different reactions in me. Most conductors specialize in one thing or another. Among the early music scholars, I prefer Philippe Herreweghe to Harnoncourt, Hogwood and Gardiner. Davis is superb in Berlioz and Sibelius; Boulez is splendid in Berg and Webern but I don't think I'd like his Rossini much. I like what Herbert von Karajan does with the Beethoven symphonies better than any of the gentlemen you mention (best recording is the 1963 set on DG). I have yet to have my "Simon Rattle moment" -- I've always found him very very good but nothing more, yet friends assure me he's a master.
I guess I can't really answer your question. But I would urge you to try to match the artist with the proper repertory. Talk to your friends, check the reviews, and spend a day listening in the library. There are many great musicians active today, but we have a pretty incredible store of past performances as well, which I would hesitate to write off.
Washington:
Given your stated negative feelings about the music of John Adams, will you yourself go to review his 9/11 memorial "On the Transmigration of Souls" with the New York Philharmonic this September, or will you send an alternative reviewer? I assume you feel it was unfortunate for John Adams to have been named Carnegie Hall's composer in residence for 2003-06?
Tim Page: Actually, I like some Adams works quite a bit -- "Shaker Loops" was revelatory in 1978. I'm just allergic to program pieces -- they just don't work. Moreover, Adams-The-Thinker (in pieces such as "Nixon in China," "The Death of Klinghoffer" and that awful thing about the L.A. riots) has always struck me as pretty naive in his choice of texts.
Look, I'm not going to review something before I've heard it. The 9/11 piece may turn out to be distinguished. In any event, all this talk is academic, as I can't believe my editors would dream of sending me to New York to cover much of anything. This is a very tough time for the news business, and we've all had to scale back our expectations enormously.
I think Adams will be a perfectly suitable comopser for Carnegie -- a natural choice, in many ways. Still, I keep thinking how exciting it might have been if Carnegie had gone for somebody on the cutting edge -- Pauline Oliveros, or Meredith Monk, say, or Phill Niblock. But then I'm pretty much of a modernist...
DC:
One of the problems with the Gurrelieder is indeed the German translation of the Danish source poems. The original texts are by Jens Peter Jacobsen (1847-85); translated from Danish into German by Robert Franz Arnold. I have heard from Danish speaking friends that something of the original is truly lost in the German version set by Schoenberg.
Tim Page: Thank you.
DC:
I'm new to this discussion, so don't know if you've covered this, but I love the viola. Wondering if you (or other chatters) had any recommendations for great viola pieces and great performers. My own favorite violist is William Primrose.
Tim Page: Primrose was a wonderful violist. There have been many others -- Lionel Tertis, Walter Trampler, Kim Kashkashian. I've always found Pinchas Zukerman a stronger violist than violinist; it seems to interest him more these days.
silver spring, md:
Any recommendations for novels about classical music and musicians? I've read Mann's Dr. Faustus and various things by Joseph Hamilton-Patterson. Any more?
Tim Page: Both fine. Also Romain Rolland's "Jean Christophe" -- an epic-length study of a composer. Willa Cather's "Song of the Lark." Beverley Nichols's delightfully bitchy "Evensong," said to have been modeled on Nellie Melba. There must be others.
Tim Page: Well, I'm sorry but we're out of time. It's been a pleasure "speaking" to you from up here today - and I look forward to our next chat, two weeks from today.
I hope the heat has broken by then!
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