If you’re in the mood for a music podcast, I have one for you — a new episode of Music for a While: here. I have a variety: Debussy, Prokofiev, et al. Toward the end, I have a tribute to Colette Maze, the French pianist who has died at 109. She was born on June 16, 1914 — about six weeks before the World War began. And she played right on through till the end: till 109.

I begin with Tchaikovsky. And I tell a story, which I would like to retell here. Recently, I had lunch with a young conductor friend of mine. He was marveling at Tchaikovsky and the ballets in particular — The Nutcracker, more particularly than that. “It’s so good,” he said. “Not just the music you hear in the suite — the whole score.”

True. I told him about something that Rodion Shchedrin said, in the early 1970s. Shchedrin was a Soviet composer (as we used to say). Born in 1932. Married to Maya Plisetskaya, one of the greatest ballet dancers in history. A more talented couple, you can’t imagine. (Equal to them, perhaps, are Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.)

Anyway, someone asked Shchedrin, “What music are you prepared to listen to right now?” He answered, “The Nutcracker. Every page is masterly.”

Mind you, this was a striking — even a daring — thing to say in those days: an era of high, strict, and imperious modernism.

Well, after I talked with my young conductor friend, I wrote to Shchedrin — to tell him about the exchange my friend and I had had. Shchedrin responded, “My opinion about Nutcracker now is the same! Maybe only stronger!”

That’s what I’m talkin’ about. Anyway, you may enjoy Music for a While. Give it a spin (again, here).