ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
Throughout his decades-long career, pianist Emanuel Ax has been performing in the great concert halls of the world. And now, instead of the stage, he is stepping behind a microphone to host a new podcast with WQXR and Carnegie Hall. It's called Classical Music Happy Hour, and it's part interviews, with guests like superstar pianist Yuja Wang and musical comedienne Isabel Hagen, and part game show, with facts about famous composers' deaths.
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "CLASSICAL MUSIC HAPPY HOUR")
EMANUEL AX: As Beethoven...
YUJA WANG: Could die faster (laughter).
AX: As Beethoven lay dying with a failing liver, his publishers thought, you know what he needs (laughter)? You know what'd he really appreciate? A case of wine.
WANG: Wow.
AX: And as a matter of fact, apparently, Beethoven's last words were, pity, it's come too late.
SCHMITZ: That's Emanuel Ax. Manny, as his friends know him, joins me now. Welcome, Manny.
AX: Thank you. Very nice to be with you.
SCHMITZ: It's great to have you. So it's pretty obvious that your podcast is very different from a typical concert hall experience. Where did the idea come from? And why did you think a podcast was the right format?
AX: Well, actually, the idea sort of came 20 years ago. My friend Yo-Yo Ma and I had always talked about doing a music "Car Talk" because we were such...
SCHMITZ: (Laughter).
AX: ...Fans of that show. I think that's sort of the way it began. He left it to me to sort of get some guests, do some games, try and show the personalities of not only musicians but people who love music, to show that we're maybe a little more relaxed than people think we are.
SCHMITZ: So you and Yo-Yo Ma, the Click and Clack of classical music podcasting (laughter).
AX: Yes. But definitely the poor man's Click and Clack.
SCHMITZ: So a lot of the conversations you've been having almost flip the image that many people have of classical music on its head. One musician who I think does this really well in classical music is Yuja Wang, who we heard from in the first clip in this piece. Now, I met Yuja Wang about a decade ago backstage at one of her shows. I met her mother, and we had a conversation where her mother told me about her husband, Yuja Wang's father, and about how her husband - when Yuja was very young, her husband, Yuja Wang's father, kept telling her, you need to slow down. Obviously...
AX: (Laughter).
SCHMITZ: ...That advice did not work very well. Because if anyone who's listening to this does not know Yuja Wang or is not familiar with her, just put in Google Yuja Wang and "Flight Of The Bumblebee."
(SOUNDBITE OF YUJA WANG'S PERFORMANCE OF NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV'S "FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLEBEE")
SCHMITZ: She is one of the fastest musicians I have ever seen.
AX: Yes.
SCHMITZ: How are musicians like Yuja changing classical music?
AX: When you meet people like Yuja, like Yo-Yo, like a lot of the people that I have on this podcast - when you meet them talking in a more relaxed way, you realize that they're very much fun and that they don't take themselves so seriously, and therefore, the audience shouldn't either.
SCHMITZ: Right.
AX: People always think there are rules to listening to music. You know, you come to a concert. There's some kind of arcane rule that you're not allowed to applaud. That doesn't make any sense. You know, it's not only counterintuitive, but it's historically wrong.
SCHMITZ: So let me ask you this, Manny. What place do you think classical music occupies in today's world? How do you help someone fall in love with the music that you've dedicated your life to playing?
AX: Well, I would like to think that if we can just get people to listen - that's the most important thing - in some way or other. You know, it's very - these days, it's very accessible. You can find music anywhere online. I think we just need to somehow say, this is interesting, do it. You know, I remember when we moved to this country. I was, I guess, 12 years old, and I saw a football game on television - New York Giants, with Y. A. Tittle being the quarterback. That's - I'm sure that's...
SCHMITZ: Those were the days.
AX: ...The name for you. It's sort of like me mentioning Beethoven to you. You know, it's the...
SCHMITZ: (Laughter).
AX: ...Same period of history. But he was the quarterback I first saw with the Giants. And I remember just - I didn't know a thing. But I got interested in it just by looking at it, you know?
SCHMITZ: Right.
AX: And I think it's the same way with music. If - of course, not everybody is going to be fascinated, but the people that might be interested, that might be excited by it, then you start listening, and the more you listen, the more you know. And the thing is, there's so much going on today. There are so many choices for kids, much more than there used to be, I would say. All of the technology that's made things so much easier has also given us an incredible number of choices. So music is only one of the choices now.
SCHMITZ: So, Manny, let's go back to your podcast. What's one thing that you hope folks take away from listening to it, besides all of the, you know, fascinating ways that famous composers have died?
AX: Yeah (laughter). Well, that's only one of the games we play. We've got a bunch of other games. What I'm hoping is that the composers I talk to - John Adams, Gabriela Ortiz, Jeanine Tesori - are also seen as people who are exciting, innovative, fun to be with. So I hope that comes through a bit.
SCHMITZ: That is Emanuel Ax, host of the podcast Classical Music Happy Hour from WQXR and Carnegie Hall. Manny, thanks so much for joining us.
AX: Thank you very much. Thanks a lot for taking the time.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHNNY GREENWOOD'S "TRIO FOR WILLA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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