Two instances spring to mind. The first was a performance of The Magic Flute, where a young lad in a wheelchair with a severe disability (possibly cerebral palsy) was making loud moaning noises at certain points in the action, to the extent that his parents/guardians decided to leave after about half an hour. It struck me that he was only enjoying himself, and that this was his way of showing it. I'm still saddened to think about it to this day. The second was non-verbal. I was at the Barbican to watch Haitink conduct Schubert 5 and Mahler 4, and a Frenchman sitting next to me couldn't stop "conducting" along to the Schubert. Very distracting! An Englishman sat on the other side reached across and firmly, but gently, grabbed his hand and pushed it onto the Frenchman's knee. When the Frenchman protested, the Englishman pointed towards Haitink and said, with emphasis, "Le conducteur est là!". The Frenchman muttered an angry reply, huffily got out of his seat and left. Just as well, really... I don't think I could have put up with that in the Mahler!

@LPCLASSICAL

2 ай бұрын

Yes - that is very sad about the boy. I would not have an issue with that. Very funny on that other story and you should have bought that Englishman a drink. Glad to see the French retreat at The Barbican.

I was at a piano recital recently, and someone farted very loudly in the middle of Debussy's 'Clair de Lune'!

You are not a miserable killjoy ... you are completely correct! 👍 ... Sadly, this is the world that we now live in. (for the most part)

so called learning disabilities or not, no one is above the law regarding antisocial behaviour, i would have been very angry indeed! too many are getting let off bad behaviour with this rubbish. full credit to the orchestra for remaining professional over that.

There's an SXL version of the Mozart on eBay at £25 now (and some at rather higher prices).

He was adding an extra wind instrument.. Classical is an elite pastime.. If u want the Top elite performance u have to pay for the best performances in London etc otherwise u have people breaking wind etc

What about some videos on classical record labels? Pros & Cons, best performers, audiophile, collectible. I'm just cleaning a Heliodore record, never hear any talk on other labels ... Could start with a ranking video??

Wow, I've got the Decca - JB 70 re-issue of the Mozart Horn Concertos, Discogs says it's worth £1.

i ONCE WENT TO SEE maazel conducting Mahler 6 at the Festival hall. The twit in front of me had a big score and was conducting along. I told him that either me or him would be leaving the concert. It was not me.

@LPCLASSICAL

2 ай бұрын

That would annoy me too.

Made me laugh, that did. I'm sympathetic. These days I avoid the cinema for similar reasons, and I'm becoming less tolerant of bad manners; talking, ruffling bags of confectionery, the usual stuff. Even in rock concerts people talking loudly during quiet passages does my head in. There have been several incidents where I've had to quietly tell people I came to hear the artist and not a fellow fan bellowing in my ear. Firmness seems to do the trick. In the round though, I'm savouring serious music at home in peace, rather than take part in the lottery of the live experience.

i had mixed results with classical concerts, so I eventually settled on rock concerts because the music would always drown out the loudmouths in the audience

I entirely agree with what you say but what you don't say is its the fault of the theatre for selling popcorn ,sweets etc and if they didn't then this culture wouldn't conme about or there would be less of it. It is interesting to note that a matinae audience is entirely different to that of an evening where they have all had a drink .you go to see a show at your peril you don't know what you are going to get the theatres want it both ways

I don’t think you are a killjoy or a snob at all, I think people should show respect for the performers and other audience members. My wife and I stopped going to the cinema probably 20 years ago now because of the way other people ruined it for us. I guess venues make lots of profit selling popcorn, sweets etc that they won’t then stop people eating them.

Absolutely, too many a times a perforrmance has been spoilt for me by too much inappropriate 'audience participation'. Obviously inclusivity is a a good thing and (I think) I'm fairly tolerant, but often it goes too far, be it (classical) concerts, theatre or film, etc. No thanks!