Concert hall or front room?

[Mark]

I've gone with both (I'm off to the Proms in a few hours), but if it came down to it, I prefer listening to recordings at home with my headphones on. It's the intimacy that really works for me, however much I want to see and hear works I love performed.

What about you? What's your preference? And do you, perhaps, have some other place where you enjoy listening ... or hearing music performed?

[Tancata]

I much prefer live music, in a concert hall, gig or elsewhere.

[BachQ]

I like bringing my iPod to a live concert ...........

[Mark]

I like bringing my iPod to a live concert ...........

With a conference mic concealed about your person, and 'voice' recording switched on?

[marvinbrown]

I like bringing my iPod to a live concert ...........

  LOL I can picture D minor at an all-you-can-listen-to Haydn Symphony concert with his ipod, concealed of course, listening to Brahms' PC No.1.

  To answer your question though Mark,  I much rather prefer music that is performed live.  But then again I do not have a GREAT stereo system    so a live performance wins out in the end.

  marvin

[bhodges]

I love recordings (and being at home on a rainy night with a stack of them and a glass of wine) but few experiences beat a great live concert.  I go to about two or three a week. 

--Bruce

[jochanaan]

Live, whenever I can afford it.  Of course, if the music is small-scale enough, you can have it live IN your front room!

[uffeviking]

Still trying to find the right words to answer the question. Literally, of course I prefer concert hall or opera stage, but practically, it's a 99% impossibility. Your replies sound like everybody lives within easy driving or walking distance of such a venue.

Not so in the USA! I think I have mentioned it before, it takes a three hours drive over two mountain passes and turns live enjoyment into a two day affair with a minimum of $250 expense: Ticket, hotel, taxi and I gotta eat too! Maybe now you understand why most of my contributions to GMG are about DVDs! 

[Soundproof]

There's an immediacy to the live performance that I prefer.
But I don't like very large concert halls.
Also feel I need to go to live concerts in order to recognize when I'm hearing an approximation when listening at home.

[Don]

I much prefer listening at home.  My attention span at concerts is poor.

[M forever]

Still trying to find the right words to answer the question. Literally, of course I prefer concert hall or opera stage, but practically, it's a 99% impossibility. Your replies sound like everybody lives within easy driving or walking distance of such a venue.

Not so in the USA! I think I have mentioned it before, it takes a three hours drive over two mountain passes and turns live enjoyment into a two day affair with a minimum of $250 expense: Ticket, hotel, taxi and I gotta eat too! Maybe now you understand why most of my contributions to GMG are about DVDs! 

Indeed, location is the key. When I lived in Berlin, I had about a dozen top class orchestras within that 3h radius. That is one thing I really miss.

[Topaz]

I much prefer home listening of a concert, but only on high quality radio, not TV.

[uffeviking]

The lack of easy access to concerts and Operas, even while living in the capitol of the State of Washington, was the hardest thing for me to accept when we arrived in this country! We were very tempted to go back to where we came from: Berlin and Salzburg!

[M forever]

Well, there isn't *that* much going on in Salzburg outside the festivals, but then you can always drive to Munich where you have three great orchestras and one of German's best opera houses.

[uffeviking]

... and don't forget the frequent concerts at the Mozarteum! Unbelievable as it sounds, even going to Sunday Mass was a beautiful musical experience. Hearing all those Masses and Requiems performed in the Dom, a special treat one does not get here in conservative fundamentalist establishments! 

[karlhenning]

Unbelievable as it sounds, even going to Sunday Mass was a beautiful musical experience.

I don't think that sounds unbelievable in the least 

[Mark G. Simon]

With recordings you get to listen to whatever music you want whenever you want. You can listen any number of times, or stop or start in the middle of a piece.

But there's nothing like having the musicians right there in front of you. It adds an extra dimension to the music that you just can't get otherwise. Last year when I heard the National Philharmonic do the Shostakovich 14th it was such a revelation that I remarked "if you haven't heard this piece live, you haven't heard it".

All this goes double (at least) for opera. Britten's operas, for instance, strike me as rather dry on recordings, but watch them on stage and they really come alive.

The absolute ultimate, though, is performing live.

[Boris_G]

I've voted for the 'both' option. But interestingly I recently had a conversation with someone in the classical music business about live concerts and the fact they're not very welcoming to new audiences (shushing applause between movements, having to dress correctly, behaving as if in a very stiff High Anglican church service - ok, I exaggerate, but it's closer to that than the atmosphere at a jazz concert or a 'live gig'). And it's occurred to me that this reverential behaviour by audiences (or, perhaps I mean, tacitly expected of audiences) really developed in the 20th century, most probably because a large number of people going to concerts wanted to duplicate the 'ideal listening conditions' of their living room with hi-fi sound and no distracting noises. I fear the resulting atmosphere - repressed, non-communal - may be a significant reason why audiences for classical concerts have been dwindling, with the honorable exception of such events as the London Proms (which, notably, doesn't have so much of this reverential atmosphere).

What do you guys think?

[Tancata]

I've voted for the 'both' option. But interestingly I recently had a conversation with someone in the classical music business about live concerts and the fact they're not very welcoming to new audiences (shushing applause between movements, having to dress correctly, behaving as if in a very stiff High Anglican church service - ok, I exaggerate, but it's closer to that than the atmosphere at a jazz concert or a 'live gig'). And it's occurred to me that this reverential behaviour by audiences (or, perhaps I mean, tacitly expected of audiences) really developed in the 20th century, most probably because a large number of people going to concerts wanted to duplicate the 'ideal listening conditions' of their living room with hi-fi sound and no distracting noises. I fear the resulting atmosphere - repressed, non-communal - may be a significant reason why audiences for classical concerts have been dwindling, with the honorable exception of such events as the London Proms (which, notably, doesn't have so much of this reverential atmosphere).

What do you guys think?

Yeah, I'd prefer if people were more relaxed at concerts. Since instruments aren't amplified and it is nice to hear the quiet bits, too much noise wouldn't be a good thing. But if things were a little more relaxed, it would definitely be good.

The atmosphere of a jazz, folk or higher-end rock club would definitely be appropriate for a lot of music. Maybe have a bar, drinks, etc. And regular applause would be fine, IMO.

There would probably be a lot less coughing if people were more relaxed  .

As for dressing correctly ... you don't actually have to do that, do you? 

[karlhenning]

Ask the victim of a wardrobe malfunction.