Seeing Music Performed

[ardcarp]

It occurs to me that this thread might be relevant to BBC Young Musician. The presenters (Aarrgghh!) and judges all seem to rate 'communicating with the audience' very highly. I think they mean such things as making eye-contact and using both facial and bodily expression. Whilst I am on the side of 'seeing music live', I am a bit wary of judging contestants on an Emoting Scale of 1 - 10. It is surely the music and its performance that 'communicates' with an audience. For instance, I saw Angela Hewitt live in her early days (excerpts from The 48 plus The Goldbergs) and the audience was spellbound by her playing, her demeanour being very calm.

As an afterthought, does anyone remember organ diplomas being taken at the old Kensington Gore HQ of the RCO? A candidate was known to the examiners by a number only, and they sat behind a curtain. The idea was probably to prevent accusations of favouritism, but certainly corybantics from the organist cut no mustard.

[ahinton]

It occurs to me that this thread might be relevant to BBC Young Musician. The presenters (Aarrgghh!) and judges all seem to rate 'communicating with the audience' very highly. I think they mean such things as making eye-contact and using both facial and bodily expression. Whilst I am on the side of 'seeing music live', I am a bit wary of judging contestants on an Emoting Scale of 1 - 10. It is surely the music and its performance that 'communicates' with an audience. For instance, I saw Angela Hewitt live in her early days (excerpts from The 48 plus The Goldbergs) and the audience was spellbound by her playing, her demeanour being very calm.

Agreed wholeheartedly. Contestants, like any other performers, are not supposed to be "emoting"; the music's supposed to do that in and of itself and a surfeit of eye-contact with audience members or unnecessary and unhelpful facial expressions and bodily expression that's extraneous to the requirements of performing the music are inevitably unwelcome distractions from the matter at hand (hence my earlier remarks about such performers and Rachmaninoff, Michelangeli, Stevenson and Ogdon) - unless, of course, the performance itself falls so far short of what it should do that watching the performer's expressions and antics might at least go some way to make up for the disappointment!

Your remarks about Hewitt are perhaps especially interesting given that she considered a career in dance before settling on her present one as a pianist; I can't say that I'm much of a fan of her playing - even of Bach for which she is particularly renowned - rather too ordinary and unengaging for my tastes, but...

[ardcarp]

I'm not totally against a bit of ducking and weaving! In small un-conducted ensembles it does help to keep everyone together. Very musical children (in a choir, for instance) often quite unwittingly exhibit body-language. I find it quite charming....not taken to excess though.

Phantasm doing (IMHO) the necessary body-language for a good ensemble:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpisG6o2by4

[MrGongGong]

As for mass hysteria at concerts, don't get me going on that, I think the Last Night of the Proms ought to be stopped for a start.

[Ferretfancy]

Anyone remember the Hoffnung concerts and later the Fritz Spiegel events?
I think it was in Liverpool that I saw FS's string quartet arrangement of Beatles songs. Done dead pan, but all the better for seeing it. Hilarious then, though probably humour has moved on.

I was at one of the Hoffnung concerts at the RFH, in one of those seats overlooking the side of the platform and in the front row. I wondered why the seat next to me was empty in an otherwise packed house. The answer came after the interval in Let's Fake an Opera, when Melisande sat down by my side and lowered her chain of blonde hair over the edge. This was the event in which a small fat boy came on and the orchestra tuned while he gave the note by blowing into a watering can.

An edited down remake of some of those Hoffnungs would probably do well, but an awful lot of it would probably seem unbearable today, rather like My Music on TV, which I always loathed.