Beethoven 7 - Oh that dreadful applause between movements!

[KipperKid]

Yes, but I have half a bottle of Glenfiddich sloshing around inside me so I suggest you don't take my spelling too seriously. As Churchill said when approached by a woman who complained he was drunk, he replied "and you're ugly, Madam. However, in the morning I'll be sober..."

The best Churchill put-down is the poisoned coffee one. Know it?

[cloughie]

My spelling and grammer is know better, I was just asking four clarity. Pastoral could of answered.

OK I'll applaud between postings!

[KipperKid]

OK I'll applaud between postings!

I think we should applaud Pastoral on not drinking the second part of that bottle of whiskey.

[cloughie]

I think we should applaud Pastoral on not drinking the second part of that bottle of whiskey.

Maybe I'm being a pessimist but maybe he started with a half-empty bottle!

[pastoralguy]

I think we should applaud Pastoral on not drinking the second part of that bottle of whiskey.

Loo Tate...

Oh, it's whisky...

[KipperKid]

Loo Tate...

Oh, it's whisky...

The Irish spelling was deliberate

[cloughie]

Loo Tate...

Oh, it's whisky...

...and that's not a flute!

[KipperKid]

Maybe I'm being a pessimist but maybe he started with a half-empty bottle!

L

[pastoralguy]

Off to bed, guys. Good night and sleep well.

[Bryn]

Hmm, looks like I had better dig out the 10 year Bushmills.

[french frank]

How about the use of the description "inane" in the OP and several other messages here, for starters?

Yes, I'll accept that . Perhaps 'insensitive'? Meanwhile, I resisted the temptation to respond to the comment on the concert thread that one poster found the Beethoven 'a rather heavy-handed performance' ...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm for clapping at the end of each movement. I also think that those who make the rules should allow us to applaud at the end of a well executed passage or difficult solo. It doesn't spoil jazz concerts...

Yes it does. It takes away from the music and becomes admiration for the performer instead.

[KipperKid]

Yes it does. It takes away from the music and becomes admiration for the performer instead.

So why do jazz audiences go in for it? Maybe they don't agree with you.

In any case, it is only a mild distraction, for a moment.

[french frank]

So why do jazz audiences go in for it? Maybe they don't agree with you.

I suppose one could ask the jazz enthusiasts who also attend classical concerts whether they behave in exactly the same way at both?

I think johnb's example of the guitar recital where the audience took their cue from the performer's body language is very interesting. It shows that people are very often uncertain what to do - and it seems that most commonly it is a small minority applauding routinely because the music has stopped, rather than a genuine display of enthusiam.

[Bryn]

As things (and Prommers, of course) stand, I think it is bound to be only a minority who, for whatever reason, go against the modern convention of waiting until the end (or perhaps just a little before it) to applaud. I don't think one can validly interpret the rationale of inter-movement applause from the proportion of an audience engaging in it. Some may be uncertain, some wanting to re-introduce an earlier convention, and others may have read similar threads to this one an think "stick this in your pipe". I suspect that most are simply joining in, and that the originators are showing spontaneous approbation.

Slightly OT, I recall a broadcast performance of Messiaen's Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum from the Proms, which featured a clearly audible cloudburst battering down on the roof of the RAH. I was listening via a ghetto-blaster I had hauled up to a triangulation point above the Devon hamlet I was staying in at the time. I found the sound of the downpour quite evocative of the composer's stated aim that the work be performed in the open air, and maybe from mountain tops. Indeed, an enhancement rather than a distraction. I did record it at the time, but the cassette is long lost.