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Spot the difference

Oliver Condy tries to figure out why audience reactions vary so much from venue to venue, and country to country

Ever wondered why some audiences go wild at concerts while others don’t do much more than clap in the right places? Me too. I’ve been meaning to conduct some sort of audience study for a while now – I know: bear with me – to try to figure out why a Finnish audience (quiet but extended ripples of appreciation) is so different to a New York one (short, excited standing ovations).
 
How do international soloists cope with a warm reception in, say, Milan and a frosty one in Berlin, when the performance has been just as thrilling and exciting? And why are opera audiences so different to those in concert halls? So many questions and probably not many answers – and the answers are by no means purely cultural ones.
 
To be sure, though, audiences will, to some extent, bring their native cultural behaviour to venues – think of the outspoken Italians and then picture La Scala; the reserved Japanese and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall; the polite (or so we like to think) English and London’s Wigmore Hall… I’ve sat through some pretty terrible operatic performances in my short time, but I’ve never heard anyone being booed – except after poor Anja Silja’s appearance at Paris’s Bastille Opera in Poulenc’s Carmélites a few years back. I know that sort of thing goes on in Italy, but that’s down to a peculiar type of jealousy, I’ve always thought.
 
The answers to some of my questions, however, have as much to do with the heady combination of venue, artist and repertoire and, crucially, timing. While you’re never going to get the Wigmore Hall lot dancing in the aisles, you’ll see them a good deal more awake during an evening Romantic piano recital than you will a Lieder lunchtime series. Barenboim’s Beethoven Sonata cycle at the Royal Festival Hall in London last year, meanwhile, produced the liveliest reaction I’ve yet seen at a piano recital: cheering, standing, wolf-whistling… Back in Bristol, one of the finest Mozart recitals I’ve heard in years – by Christian Blackshaw – was met last month with dutiful applause bordering on the passive. Had the two soloists exchanged venue and city, I imagine the responses would have been very different.
 
To be clear, I’m not advocating wolf-whistling, but I’ve never heard a ‘bravo’ at an organ recital (which isn’t as fatuous a comment as it seems – have you ever seen someone play some flashy Dupré?). I have, however, heard plenty of them levelled at ok-ish singers after ok-ish operas. That’s probably just the old guard keeping it the way it should be… I like to think of myself as an opera-liker, if not paid up -lover, but have, up until now, resisted the temptation to yell at the stage. I managed a ‘hooray’ once after Joyce DiDonato’s novelty wheelchair performance earlier this year at Covent Garden, but even that took some effort to overcome my own reserve.
 
So do I have any conclusions? Well, no, not yet, anyway. It’s far too late on a Friday afternoon for that sort of thing. But I’d love to hear what you think. Does the atmosphere of an audience affect your enjoyment of a performance? Has an audience reaction startled you by its reserve or its enthusiasm? There should be a comment box at the bottom of this blog – it would be fascinating to hear your views.
 
 

Oliver Condy is the editor of BBC Music Magazine, a tenor with the Bristol-based chamber choir Exultate and plays the organ. He has never wolf-whistled at a concert.

Down with excessive coughing & premature clapping

Wed, 23/12/2009 - 02:23
themanualworker

There are 2 things that affect my concert experience most - excessive coughing and pre-mature clapping.

Coughing seems to happen a lot and always at the quietest moments. Once in awhile, it even becomes contagious. One guy lets out a cough in the front, and soon you hear 4 or 5 others echo away from other parts of the hall. These people need to learn how to hold their coughs, walk out if they aren't feeling well, or cover their mouths and try to cough softly!

Premature clapping for me isn't just clapping between movements - I can deal with that. It's not allowing the beautiful sound to decay and the audience and musicians to bask in that decay before actually clapping that gets to me. It's happened so often! If an organist holds his final chord for almost half a min, savour it; don't kill it!

Spot the Difference

Tue, 22/12/2009 - 21:42
HazelNut01

These days it seems that most of the RFH audience is not very interested in what is being performed, more in reading their programme or just moving about and chatting to each other! Do they just to come to say they've been? South coast audiences seem more enthusiastic but can hardly ever tell you about any music or musicians, even those for the evening's concert, or even know about any other orchestras! I feel that they are only out for the night and most leave fairly soon to catch the coach or move their car. Are retirement areas all like this? I am no chicken but I was brought up with classical music so perhaps it is different for me. They applaud even the worst performance, some stamping and cheering. Maybe they feel they have to do this. They even leave before the end of the concert in the RFH. I did hear a comment at a recent concert conducted by Charles Mackerras "How old is he?" "I think 90." came the response. Poor man. he may no longer be young (so what, if he can do the job well)but the tone was almost to write him off. I expect if he knew he has past caring about such things.

I dispare of audiences on the whole, they are clueless, even those who take the trouble to read notes on music and the musicians. Even so-called 'Friends' of an orchestra very often know little or nothing of music, performers or even the orchestra itself and its management, etc. Are they there just to meet others or to say that they are part of this orchestra or that. Perhaps if they just enjoy music regardless that is something, or is it. To criticise anything seems way off - your just cannot do such a thing! Rubbish. If something isn't good then people ought to know about it and, conversely, when things are good they should be praised. The people I see at London or provincial concerts mostly seem to be lack lustre these days and, as previously mentioned, cannot wait to leave. Also, no-one thinks about switching off their cell 'phone or taking photographs, even when asked not to. It all feels like a circus. Has no one any respect for the performers, soloists, conductors, players in the orchestra, whatever. Nigel Kennedy playing Elgar was wonderful but he nearly walked off the stage at the RFH when someone took a flash photo towards the end of the first movement - who can blame him? That sort of thing occurred at the Tower Festival with people walking all about getting more food and drink. He tried to say something, that they all wished to perform the music. Many people laughed - just a joke they seemed to think. Audiences who are mostly made up of people who come for corporate entertainment seem more interested in the booze than the band.
Could it be that concert-going is cheaper than eating out, going to a film or something. I truly wonder why some people go at all.
Not all members of an audience are thoughtless, but there does seem to be more and more of that kind going to performances these days, whether it is concert, recital, opera or ballet. Help!
This says more about audiences for any type of performance being similar than being different I think.
It also says that people seem more indifferent to a performance or performer here than abroad. They certainly appear more polite say, in Switzerland or Germany and quite a bit more knowledgeable too but they are not above criticising or praising where necessary either and are quite capable of doing either at the time of a performance I've noticed.
Again, I do not feel there is much difference between audiences at different venues but they do tend to be slightly 'duller' in certain places than others.

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