Applause on CDs

[Dave2002]

I was checking the contents of the Decca box set of Handel Oratorios - (wasn't that highly recommended a year or two back?) and discovered that CDs 11, 13 and 41 have audience applause. Oddly CD 11 has applause from Act I, and CD 13 has applause from Act III, so someone must have decided that the applause for Act II wasn't worth putting on the CDs.

Also note that disc 9 has an item "The many rend the skies with loud applause".

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-Great-Oratorios-Various-Artists/dp/B01FENQ1C8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1533025137&sr=8-2&keywords=great+oratorios

I thought that bryn and mrgg at least might be interested in this curiosity!

[Richard Tarleton]

Recently bought CDs - the Blomstead Bruckner has applause, quite a few others.... Judging by the tiny sample in my CD collection, are continental audiences that bit better (Italian opera excepted) at waiting that second or two after the end of the performance, till the last note has died, than some British ones? On the BAL-winning live Brendel Diabelli (RFH 2001) the applause starts immediately, before the last note has died, his 1995 live Hammerklavier in the Philips set, from the Musikverein, there is a decent Austrian interval. Those are the ones that spring immediately to mind.

[Bryn]

An (in)famous example is the Warner recording of Haydn's Symphony No. 90 (BP/Rattle), where you get versions both with and without applause before the end.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have several live Alpensinfonie commercial CDs that contain applause. One of these has the applause as a separate track.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Bernstein's VPO CDs were mostly recorded live, but the endings were rerecorded without the audience to enable the CDs to be issued without audience noise.

[MrGongGong]

Very interesting
(I might have said this before ?)
A few years ago I was doing some work with the Wigmore Hall archives and wanted to make a piece out of applause
I discovered that in all the old BBC recordings the applause had been edited out (to save tape which would be re-used? was one of the reasons I was given ??)
big disappointment as it's a vital part of the acoustic ecology of the concert hall

[zola]

I remember in the early days of iTunes or whatever, that the issues of Abbado's live Mahler symphony cycle with the BPO had 'applause' available for purchase as a separate 'song'.

[mathias broucek]

I remember in the early days of iTunes or whatever, that the issues of Abbado's live Mahler symphony cycle with the BPO had 'applause' available for purchase as a separate 'song'.

And Celi's Bruckner 7 (EMI/Munich) was tipped onto a second disc by the length of the applause.

(To be fair, that wouldn't have been a risk at more orthodox tempi...)

[cloughie]

And Celi's Bruckner 7 (EMI/Munich) was tipped onto a second disc by the length of the applause.

(To be fair, that wouldn't have been a risk at more orthodox tempi...)

Yes, but we are talking Celi here!

[cloughie]

I remember in the early days of iTunes or whatever, that the issues of Abbado's live Mahler symphony cycle with the BPO had 'applause' available for purchase as a separate 'song'.

You couldn’t make it up! I think it is all part of the downloading industry not understanding the classical market!