THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502070105
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
For serious lovers of classical music, John Kuhnle is the pied piper.
Over the years, they have followed him to such musical meccas as Corvette's on the Peninsula, Tracks at Wards Corner, Discovery in Virginia Beach and back to Tracks, which recently became Blockbuster Music, where he is manager of the classical music department.
Members of this classical coterie describe his musical knowledge and acumen in glowing terms normally reserved for specialty music stores in places like New York and Chicago or esoteric mail-order outlets.
Kuhnle, 47, is younger than many of his regular customers and is self-educated in music.
He attributes his musical knowledge to his father, a captain with the New York City Fire Department who was also, Kuhnle says, ``a very good non-professional violinist. Growing up, no matter how much I resisted it, good music was always around me. Music always attracted me, but it took until early adulthood to realize how much I really liked it.''
Like many of his generation, Kuhnle's musical tastes took a detour into the pop music, and especially the folk music, of the '60s. For a while, he played the guitar, the instrument of the folk movement as well as such classical guitar greats as Segovia, Parkening, Bream and Williams.
``I quit playing it when I realized I didn't have the discipline, like my father had, to practice two hours a day to play the `Bach Chaconne,' '' he said.
While a philosophy major at Old Dominion University, Kuhnle returned full circle to his classical roots. He began keeping a notebook in which he wrote down works that he enjoyed listening to on WGH-FM, a commercial classical station until 1983. His notebooks ultimately grew to several volumes.
Raymond Jones, vice president for radio at WHRO, says:
``John is so devoted to classical music and has such a depth of expertise that I consider it a real accomplishment when I've told him about a record he hadn't already heard about. It doesn't happen very often.''
A group of regulars gather in Kuhnle's classical department at Blockbuster at Wards Corner every Saturday morning. They browse the bins devoted to classical CDs, pausing occasionally to ham it up with the life-size poster of Cecilia Bartoli, one of Kuhnle's best-loved sopranos. Occasionally someone brings cookies or pastries to share. If one of their number is not there, one of the others usually knows where he is and what out-of-town record shops will be visited during the absence.
Bill Staples, an organist and music teacher, is one of the regulars. Formerly the organist at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Staples first met Kuhnle about five years ago. Richard Mehring, a retired architect, is another. He and Kuhnle have known each other since Mehring began frequenting Tracks in the early '80s in search of classical tapes he could play while living on a sailboat.
``This isn't the only one (place where I shop),'' Mehring said. ``I do some mail order, go to Washington . . . but this is the primary one.''
``He is probably the most knowledgeable dealer in the Southeast,'' explains Dr. William B. Rodner, an instructor at Tidewater Community College and a Saturday morning regular. ``He talked me into buying a CD player when I thought I could continue to get by with LPs.''
Frederick B. Weiss, another regular, said: ``He's the only knowledgeable record-store person in town.''
Weiss should know. He's an instructor of management, business and economics at Virginia Wesleyan College, and his love of music is such that each year he puts on a program at Virginia Wesleyan devoted to the musical stage.
From 1981 until 1985, Kuhnle, whose soft-spoken manner belies his encyclopedic knowledge of classical music, was the classical buyer for the Record Bar chain, based in Durham, N.C. He credits much of his expertise to people he has known.
``I can't emphasize too much my indebtedness to people at the classical radio stations and to customers - People like Norman Willcox, Dan Morrison and the late Bill Massie,'' he said. ``They have been so willing, over the years, to share their knowledge.''
Now Kuhnle is in a position to pass on that knowledge.
Noted Jones of WHRO:
``I go into Blockbuster to look for a record and end up staying two hours talking to John. Each time I come away knowing something I didn't know before.''
Releases have to be ordered from the distributors before they have been reviewed in the trade publications. Since many of the classical releases are European in origin, Kuhnle stays abreast of European reviews, such as Gramophone magazine. But, he notes, the time lag between European and American releases is shrinking as many are issued almost simultaneously by multinational companies. He is confident, however, that he knows the musical tastes of most of his regular customers, and that makes it easy to have in stock what they want.
Kuhnle is optimistic about classical music's prospects of finding a new audience in each succeeding generation. He acknowledges that some people find classical music intimidating at first, but he offers the following thoughts for the neophyte:
``It can be confusing because classical music is different from other musical categories. Others are very clear-cut. It helps to get over the concept of there being a `best' version of the different works. It's very much a matter of personal preference.
``The subtleties in different performances are something you come to appreciate and don't want to give up. Once you acquire a taste for it, it will keep you going for life. It's hard to imagine living long enough to go through it all.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by DAWSON MILLS
John Kuhnle manages the classical department at Blockbuster Music.
by CNB