You’re Not Helping, Part 3

by | Dec 8, 2014 | Uncategorized

 

chung-cough-cone

 

I really hadn’t planned to continue this series, but more questionable behavior in the classical music world has given us a third installment. Today’s subject – audience noise at concerts and the out of proportion reactions it provokes from performers.

Nowadays, concert audiences are expected to be quiet, and any small disturbance by a patron can draw glares from their neighbors. It wasn’t always this way, as I’ve pointed out in previous posts – audiences used to be a lot rowdier. In any case, the “sit down and shut up” model of concert etiquette prevails now.

I am not against this entirely – it’s hard to play your best with a lot of ambient noise. I have also been momentarily distracted by some really out of bounds behavior in the audience – at one chamber music concert I played, an audience member opened up his newspaper (loudly) and read the entire time we played!

However, some recent reactions from high-profile performers to disturbances in the crowd suggest that maybe the desire for quiet has gotten a little out of hand (it sometimes makes me think of the Cone of Silence from Get Smart, above right).

Recently, violinist Kyung Wha Chung made a comeback from a long absence from the concert stage – an injury decades ago forced her to leave behind a very high profile career as a soloist. This was a really nice story, and I was very happy to read about her perseverance in an article in the New York Times in the days before the concert. However, what should have been a joyful occasion was spoiled – here’s the headline:

Violinist’s Comeback Recital Halted By Outburst at Coughing Child

Apparently, there was a lot of coughing during the first movement of a Mozart sonata, and at its conclusion, Chung put her violin under her arm and looked at the child, indicating she would not continue until the coughing stopped. When it did, she is reported to have said to the parents, coldly: “Maybe bring her back when she’s older.” I wouldn’t bet on it – if I were that kid, I’d need a lot of convincing to ever set foot in a concert hall again. And I really hope she wasn’t an aspiring violinist!

You can read about the incident here. Critics who were there talked about the amount of coughing (a lot), and reminded their readers that Chung was under great pressure, giving her first public performance in many years. Doesn’t convince me she had the right to do what she did, but I agree it’s worth mentioning.

The article also recalls a similar incident a couple of months ago at an New World Symphony concert, where conductor Michael Tilson Thomas addressed a woman in the audience whose child was sleeping. Audience members say he asked the mother to leave, while Tilson Thomas claimed that he only asked her to change seats, as her patting the girl’s head was distracting. In any case, they left, and again, I’d be surprised if they ever came back.

There are many other recent examples of such imperious behavior in a very good article by New York Times critic Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim. The grand prize goes to Andras Schiff, whose playing I really admire, but whose people skills seem to need work – to a coughing audience member, he said: “I am giving you a gift – don’t spoil it.” Please.

The article also offers some examples of much better reactions from the stage  – my favorite is New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert turning, smiling broadly and waving goodbye to two women sneaking out of a concert in between movements. The audience laughed – it must have been a nice change for them!

There are many people who say that absolute silence is required to truly appreciate the nuances of a performance, and I won’t argue that it is nice to have. However, most of the works we treat so reverentially were written long before audiences were expected to be so quiet! If Mozart expected noise when he performed his music (read my post about this here), maybe Kyung Wha Chung could live with some coughing when she plays it.

Many people already view the classical music world as pompous and overly serious, and it takes so little to fix that – a few words from the stage before a concert begins, or telling a story about the origins of a piece, or even just a bad joke are all that’s needed to break the ice! Make an effort, and please don’t act like people who paid to hear you are getting in the way – they are the reason you’re up there in the first place!

So, performers – an early New Year’s resolution proposal – in 2015, let’s behave more like Alan Gilbert, and less like Andras Schiff and Kyung Wha Chung!

Crowdsurfing the Messiah-Who Crossed the Line?

by | Jun 25, 2014 | Uncategorized

Handel-crowdsurf-edited

 

The other day, an American got thrown out of a concert in Britain for crowdsurfing – surely not the first time that’s happened. Here’s the catch – it was at a performance of Handel’s Messiah, and the offender was a Stanford University expert in “non-equilibrium molecular reaction dynamics.” Weren’t expecting that, were you?

The concert was at the Bristol Old Vic, on a series designed to be “accessible and informal” according to its director, Tom Morris, who tells his audiences: “Clap or whoop when you like, and no shushing other people.” The audience stands in a mosh pit in front of the stage and beer is allowed.

The offender, Dr. David R. Glowacki, told the Irish Independent: “Classical music, trying to seem cool and less stuffy, reeks of some sort of fossilized art form undergoing a midlife crisis…Witness what happened to me when I started cheering with a 30-strong chorus shouting ‘praise God’ two metres from my face: I get physically assaulted, knocked down to the floor and forcibly dragged out by two classical vigilantes.”

Once you’ve stopped giggling, there are some things to talk about here. First of all, good for Mr. Morris and the Bristol Old Vic for encouraging audiences to show their appreciation for what they are hearing. Why not try it?

For those of you who disagree and say that clapping and whooping while the music is playing is simply out of bounds, I offer you a letter from Mozart to his father, rejoicing in exactly that behavior at the premiere of the “Paris” symphony. So there.

Seriously, the idea that concertgoers should be quiet and well-behaved is a recent phenomenon – here’s a description of what went on at Baroque Opera houses during performances – some of it would make Silvio Berlusconi blush.

But what about Mr. Glowacki, and the audience members (not the staff of the Old Vic, mind you) who took it upon themselves to toss him out for his behavior? Were they right? Going forward, it appears Mr. Morris has decided to let the crowd decide: “The Bristol Proms are contributing to a ground-breaking way of thinking which will pave the way for a new kind of classical concert. But by allowing an audience to respond in whatever way they want, you also allow an audience to self-regulate, as we discovered.”

Sounds reasonable to me – what do you think? Let’s not forget, audiences already “self-regulate” – anyone who’s ever disturbed a concert hall with a cell phone or cough drop wrapper can attest to that!

So who crossed the line here, if anyone? Did Mr. Morris, by having beer and a mosh pit at the concert? Mr. Glowacki, for trying to crowdsurf? What about those two audience members who threw him out?  Maybe they crossed the line from being scolds to, as Mr. Glowacki so vividly termed them, “classical vigilantes.” I’m not sure where I stand on this, but I do like that it’s being talked about! What do you think? Please post your comments!