CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC CLOSE-UP: JANELLE GELFAND

graduated in music from Stanford University, where I had the extraordinary experience of spending a year in Vienna, Austria. I lived near the opera house, and studied voice, piano, art and drama in German.

n 1973, I moved to Cincinnati and earned a master's degree in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where I studied with pianist Jeanne Kirstein. For the next 12 years, 30 kids a week trooped through my piano studio. I also wrote feature stories for piano magazines and Teachers Guides to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Children's Concerts.

A few years ago, I returned to CCM to work on a doctorate in musicology. I taught music history to freshmen through graduate students. Now I'm completing my dissertation.

Philosophy: Because there exists such a high technical level among musicians, anyone can play the notes. Loud and fast does not impress me as much as something special that moves me, such as a unique interpretation or beautiful phrasing. I'm influenced by years of studying with master teachers, the kind who held their ears and grimaced if they heard unemotional or pedestrian playing.

have subscribed to the CSO since the Thomas Schippers years (1970-77), and have heard many major American and European orchestras and opera companies. I try to be as informed as possible, reading everything I can find and buying recordings. I often attend concerts I'm not reviewing. I try to keep performing, so I don't forget what it's like to make music.

Cincinnati's performing organizations set a high musical standard many years ago. Should audiences be satisfied if standards drop, even as ticket prices soar? I always have the consumer in mind, and these days, time is as valuable as money.

So a performance must go beyond technical fireworks and communicate to the audience. If it doesn't stimulate, move, astound or inspire, it's only notes and not music.

Pet peeves: The attitude by radio stations and orchestras that they must ''dumb down'' programming. (The public is smarter than you realize.) Boards that do not get involved with and informed about their musical product -- other than to raise money. Public school music cuts.

What I would most like to see this year: A sold-out season at the CSO. A workable music education plan between the CSO and public schools -- and soon. Another banner year for the May Festival and Cincinnati Opera.