Concerts in the cinema?

[alywin]

Sorry if this has been discussed somewhere I hadn't noticed, but I'm curious to know whether people have been to see classical concerts broadcast to cinemas (as opposed to opera and dance), and what the experience was like? (I'm seriously considering the Berlin Phil on Sunday)

[aeolium]

There have been no concert broadcasts available in the cinemas in my region (though they do opera, ballet, theatre and exhibitions) so no. I would consider going if there was the opportunity.

[Dave2002]

I didn't really realise this was happening - see http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/en/cinema/

How much are the tickets?

I have been to plays and operas in cinemas, and my view is that they provide a worthwhile experience, but nothing like the experience of going to a theatre or opera house. The reasons for going are (a) cost and (b) convenience, with perhaps a few other factors, such as it's possible to go with a group of friends who may not be able to get to a play or opera, or not be able to afford it. Opera in cinemas usually seems to cost between £15 and £20.

Last year, for my birthday, I expressed an interest in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the ROH. I "bravely" suggested that cost didn't matter, but when I looked at the prices of available tickets I discovered that each ticket was going to cost about £140, so in the end we settled for the cinema. It was OK, but I still prefer the "real thing".

A few days ago I went to an LPO performance including Belshazzar's Feast at the RFH. I would be very surprised if anything like the impact of that could be put across in a cinema.

Many people do not have any experience of live events, and for them cinema presentations are a good/reasonable way of getting part of an experience which otherwise they would never have. In some areas of the country (as noted in msg 2), there are few concerts available, and only a few cinema productions, so there could be significant benefits there.

If you do go to the Berlin Phil viewing, please do come back and tell us what you felt about it.

[pastoralguy]

We thought about buying tickets for the Berlin Phil's recent all Beethoven concert with Bernie and Isi Faust. However, the nearest cinema was about 30 miles away in Fife and it was sold out shortly after the tickets went on sale. Ironically, there were still tickets available for the concert itself at the Philharmonie.

In the end, we watched it on the iPad with headphones and really enjoyed it.

[Stanfordian]

I've been to a considerable number of operas at the cinema which work superbly well; possibly even better than attending the opera house. I've seen a couple of orchestral concerts at the cinema which work much less well than being at the actual concert.

[slarty]

Like Stanfordian, I think that the live operatic evenings in the cinema are superb, but the one concert I saw was very disappointing. too much camera movement.

[Old Grumpy]

All of which begs the question: What do you actually watch in a live concert - the orchestra as a whole, the conductor, your favourite group of instrumentalists, the group of instrumentalists being featured at that moment it time, or what? I have not seen a concert in the cinema, but have seen them on TV. I would imagine that much depends on the camera work and editorial direction at the time.

OG

[alywin]

Incidentally, having checked the BP website, I see this one will be streamed online as well, if anyone's interested. Unfortunately, I've gone over my allowance for the month already, so it would cost me almost as much to pay for the extra wi-fi as it would to physically go to the cinema!

[gradus]

I've seen opera relays which have all been good and considerably less expensive than travelling to see the event live. Based on this, I'd try a relayed concert as the B Phil relays on the pc seem pretty good quality.

[alywin]

If you do go to the Berlin Phil viewing, please do come back and tell us what you felt about it.

I should have done this closer to the event, shouldn't I? Trying to remember detail isn't one of my fortes.

Well, it was an interesting experience, certainly, but I'm not sure how often I'd repeat it. The presentation was very ... Germanic (aka a sense of humour which doesn't really cut it with me). Half-an-hour of build-up, including some prizewinning film which I think was about how the Philharmonie broadcasts its concerts around the world. Interview with conductor in German, mit subtitles. Interval interview with soloist, also in German (I don't know how far in advance these were recorded, but I had visions of some poor translators/subtitlers working against the clock to get the subtitles ready in time, in however many languages they provide for). I was quite impressed at non-native German speakers being able to discuss their work fluently in German - Nicholas Harnoncourt was a surprise - although since German is one of the main classical-music languages perhaps that's not so surprising. Cinematographically, it wasn't that different from Proms TV broadcasts, although I could perhaps have done with more views of how the conductor related to the musicians, especially in Daphnis and Chloe. I'm no hi-fi buff or anything, but the audio quality sounded fine to me, except that there was this sort of cicada-like chirping in the background, but I managed to tune that out. Not sure whether that was a problem with the relay in general or just the cinema.

What was depressing, though, was the poor turnout. Surely there must have been more than a dozen or so people in London interested in this concert? I still think advertising of live broadcasts leaves a lot to be desired.

[Dave2002]

What was depressing, though, was the poor turnout. Surely there must have been more than a dozen or so people in London interested in this concert? I still think advertising of live broadcasts leaves a lot to be desired.

We went to see the film "A Late Quartet" a year or more back in the cinema. Rather a good film. The size of the audience was strictly less than the number of principal actors in the film - five - since the quartet brings in one more at the end - Nina Lee.