Alan Rich | Classical-music critic, 85

Alan Rich, 85, a critic whose eloquent and passionate writing about classical music in New York and Los Angeles made him an important voice in the American musical world, died Friday at his home in West Los Angeles, Calif.

His death was announced by Vanessa Butler, a longtime friend.

Mr. Rich's enthusiasms ranged from the 14th-century composer Guillaume de Machaut to contemporary music, including experimental and electronic works, serialism, and minimalism, when it was new and still considered suspect in mainstream new-music circles.

After his move to Los Angeles in 1981 - first as a critic for California magazine, and later as music editor of Newsweek, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, and LA Weekly - he made the development of the city's musical culture a special cause.

Mr. Rich was born in Boston on June 17, 1924, and attended Harvard University with the intention of going on to study medicine. But he also found a job, during his student years, as an assistant critic for the Boston Herald, and instead of pursuing medical studies, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a master's degree in music in 1956.

He became a music critic for the New York Times in 1961 and moved to the New York Herald Tribune in 1963.

- N.Y. Times News Service