Concert hall or front room?

[Boris_G]

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

Fortunately not so much in the UK, in my experience, though a lot of classical tyros are under the impression you have to (I guess to some extent I was describing the wide-spread perception of what classical audiences are like, though it's really not far from the truth). And certainly in the major East European cities I've been to it's expected that you should wear a tie at a concert or the opera.

[Tancata]

Fortunately not so much in the UK, in my experience, though a lot of classical tyros are under the impression you have to (I guess to some extent I was describing the wide-spread perception of what classical audiences are like, though it's really not far from the truth). And certainly in the major East European cities I've been to it's expected that you should wear a tie at a concert or the opera.

Lol...a tie...I've been to concerts and the opera in a few different places, and while there are well-dressed people there, there are always a great number of anorak-clad regulars...

I probably put more effort into dressing for a rock concert (or a club...), although perhaps the objectives in mind are different  0:).

I remember there was a heated discussion about this on the old board. Somebody was arguing that it was a mark of disrespect to the musicians or composer not to dress formally.

Perhaps some composers or performers could comment on that rather odd notion.

From my perspective, it seems like these traditions were fixed at a time when people always wore hats outdoors, and dressed up to have breakfast.

[karlhenning]

I remember there was a heated discussion about this on the old board. Somebody was arguing that it was a mark of disrespect to the musicians or composer not to dress formally.

I don't know that you have to wear black tie; it is enough, not to be slovenly.

[bhodges]

Lol...a tie...I've been to concerts and the opera in a few different places, and while there are well-dressed people there, there are always a great number of anorak-clad regulars...

Not to digress too much, but I'm very much enjoying watching the audience at the Kirov Ring cycle this week, with the expected number of very dressy folks.  But on the first night I spotted a guy in a Grateful Dead t-shirt and cargo shorts.   

I agree that while you shouldn't have to dress up (I usually don't) just taking the trouble to be "neatly assembled" is not a bad thing.

--Bruce

[Tancata]

But on the first night I spotted a guy in a Grateful Dead t-shirt and cargo shorts.   

I agree that while you shouldn't have to dress up (I usually don't) just taking the trouble to be "neatly assembled" is not a bad thing.

--Bruce

Hehe. Well, that sort of T-shirt might be a very conscious choice... ....

Perhaps, sartorially, I trade off the fact that I look rather young at concerts. It will be interesting to see how these things change with age.

[Novi]

I probably put more effort into dressing for a rock concert (or a club...), although perhaps the objectives in mind are different  0:).

Tougher bouncers at a club than at the Barbican ...

[Tancata]

Tougher bouncers at a club than at the Barbican ...

Hah, yes that's true.

You know the tough guys who overlook the dance floor/moshpit and wade in to extract any trouble-makers...perhaps concert halls could do with a few of those for serial coughers...

[Novi]

My answer to the original question is 'both.' I find the concert hall and listening at home two different orders of experience.

I like the immediacy of live performance as well as the sense of sharing an experience with everyone else. There's this great feeling of communality when you're filing out after a phenomenal performance and you're thinking, wow, did everyone just hear what I heard. Not even the odd cougher or two can diminish this feeling . What I also get from the concert hall is a sense of the physicality of performance - I find this is particularly so for solo recitals.

Listening at home ... obviously, you get to choose what to put on. Unfortunately, I must have the cheapest and crappiest listening equipment, but that's easily rectifiable (in principle anyway ). It's incredible, come to think of it, that for less than the price of a mediocre meal, you can have this glorious music to hand to play whenever you like. Wow. (Yeah, yeah, I know CDs have been around for a while now, and LPs before that, but still, it's pretty amazing, don't you think?  0:))

[Solitary Wanderer]

Both for me.

98% of my listening is done at home over a half decent sound system.

Over the past three years we've been NZSO subscribers so have been averaging one concert per month.

Although I'd like to go to more I find one per month about right

[Tancata]

Over the past three years we've been NZSO subscribers so have been averaging one concert per month.

Although I'd like to go to more I find one per month about right

One per month...and now you want an entire Ring cycle?   

I recommend you get in training  .

Recordings do have many benefits as Novitiate mentioned. The kind of musical program I follow would be quite impossible without recordings. Everyone has access to the best performers in the world performing whatever kind of music is desired.

That quality and breadth is not available via concerts in many places.

That said, memories of a truly magnificent concert last for years. AND, hearing music live is by far the easiest way to break into new repertoire. So many times I've heard things on radio or CD, but never really got them until I heard them live.

[Solitary Wanderer]

One per month...and now you want an entire Ring cycle?   

I recommend you get in training  .

Well, they [NZSO] only put on two concerts per month in Auckland as they travel around the country. I can't attend the Saturday night performances because of the nature of my work so I go to all the Friday night 'gigs'.

The APO also have a busier performance shedule as they are based in Auckland but I usually only see them if theres a 'gap'.

If time and money would permit perhaps we'd attend more but it feels good at the moment

The Complete Ring Cycle is unlikely to be performed here so with us travelling to North America next year it seems natural to try to see things we wouldn't get to see here hence my question

[LaciDeeLeBlanc]

I'm shocked at how many people prefer listening at home.  Nothing wrong with that really, I just didn't expect it.

I would much rather go to to the Houston Symphony and hear a live performance than listen to a recording of the Vienna Philharmonic.  A recording cannot give me goosebumps and take my breath away like a live performance can.

However, the Opera dvds and symphony recordings I own are of infinite value to me.  Most paramountly because I can listen/watch them over and over again.  Recordings are indeed essential for the study of music.

[Mark]

Some interesting responses here ... even the digression about 'appropriate' dress.

I'm just back from seeing and hearing Kurt Masur conduct not one but two orchestras (playing together as one: LPO and Orchestre National de France) in Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings and Bruckner's Seventh Symphony. My reaction? WOW! Much as I enjoy hearing both works at home, hearing them live tonight really revealed new things about each. The Serenade's beautiful Elegie took on another dimension because I could see which musicians created which sounds and contributed to the wonderful whole; and the Bruckner scherzo never sounded to me so alive. A truly ear-opening experience, as it almost always is when I go to a concert (I have The Magic Flute to look forward to next Thursday at the Barbican ... better dress right for the bouncers! ).

But still, buzzing as I usually am right after a concert, and incredible as it is seeing music made - more so for me; being non-musical in any practical sense makes me view music's creation as a kind of act of magic - I still prefer home listening. For me, there's greater intimacy, because as I said, I do most listening through headphones. And unless I'm listening to a 'live' recording, there's no coughing. Man, you should've heard it tonight! When I attend a concert, I'm reverential - you get more sound in a vacuum than you do out of me in a hall. But other people can't stop fidgeting, talking, whispering and bloody coughing. Oh, and slamming a door ... right in a quiet section of that beautiful Elegie I mentioned.

[Mark]

A recording cannot give me goosebumps and take my breath away like a live performance can.

And this genuinely shocks me!

I have dozens of recordings which give me goosebumps, even after hearing each of them dozens of times.

[Solitary Wanderer]

hearing them live tonight really revealed new things about each.

Thats exactly what I enjoy after learning a piece at home then seeing it performed

When I attend a concert, I'm reverential - you get more sound in a vacuum than you do out of me in a hall.

Same here. I love sitting silent and still and fully absorbing the acoustics of the hall and the 'magic' being created.

But other people can't stop fidgeting, talking, whispering and bloody coughing. Oh, and slamming a door ... right in a quiet section of that beautiful Elegie I mentioned.

Yes, it never ceases to amaze me at the above Dropped programmes and people quickly whispering as a piece starts irritates me as does the claque of coughing The coughing at Lucia... last week was bad; at times it was like sitting in a hospital ward!

[M forever]

I'm just back from seeing and hearing Kurt Masur conduct not one but two orchestras (playing together as one: LPO and Orchestre National de France) in Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings and Bruckner's Seventh Symphony.

That's a pity, in a way, because while you can hear the LPO any time where you are, you may not have so many opportunities to catch the ONF live that often. That's one of the few orchestras which still have a fairly recognizeable sound, with the typically highly cultivated French woodwind sound (and they even still play the Buffet basson which unfortunately even some other French orchestras have given up in favor of German bassoons) the open and bright brass, and especially the very silky strings. I wonder how much of that could be heard in the mix sound of these two orchestras thrown together. Probably not that much. You should try to catch that orchestra on its own some day.

[Mark]

Thanks, M. Duly noted. I'll keep my eyes peeled for their next (solo) appearance.

[Tancata]

Some interesting responses here ... even the digression about 'appropriate' dress.
But still, buzzing as I usually am right after a concert, and incredible as it is seeing music made - more so for me; being non-musical in any practical sense makes me view music's creation as a kind of act of magic - I still prefer home listening. For me, there's greater intimacy, because as I said, I do most listening through headphones. And unless I'm listening to a 'live' recording, there's no coughing. Man, you should've heard it tonight! When I attend a concert, I'm reverential - you get more sound in a vacuum than you do out of me in a hall. But other people can't stop fidgeting, talking, whispering and bloody coughing. Oh, and slamming a door ... right in a quiet section of that beautiful Elegie I mentioned.

Yes, putting on the headphones, pulling the covers over the head, wriggling the toes and carefully listening to a piece of music can be pretty special. But concerts have definitely been landmarks in my listening career.

The first time I really, really got how transcendently good Monteverdi is was at a concert in a church in Dublin. Unremarkable choir and crappy provincial soloists. It was the Vespers with a selection of organ music by Langlais to begin. Who the hell is this Langlais, I thought, and where is the organ in this place? Suddenly - BLAM - the organ blares out from up and behind me and I can't do anything but listen to that music for 15 minutes...hell of an introduction. Then the Vespers kick in and I realise what a supremely clever piece of programming the concert is. The acoustic of the place, the enthusiasm of the performers, all the "surround sound" effects of Monteverdi's music perfectly realised in the different nooks and crannies of the church...  0:) 0:) 0:) I literally skipped out of the place, had to catch myself because that church is on a really dodgy street and I was getting funny looks.... (The coughing and chatter during the lengthy chant interludes really didn't seem to matter  )

An old composer illuminated and a new one heard for the first time. As you say - hearing new stuff and reevaluating old - I don't think I've had such experiences on the couch at home.

[MishaK]

I don't know that you have to wear black tie; it is enough, not to be slovenly.

I had a friend in NY with whom I often went to concerts. He had the bizzarre policy that he would wear jeans if he paid for a ticket full price, but would wear full suit and tie if he got a student ticket.

[Choo Choo]

It's interesting when you've been to a concert that's subsequently broadcast over the radio.  Earlier this year I went to a concert which, on the night, I thought had a very indifferent first half, but a tremendous second half - really one of those nights to remember.  I was actually on the point of tears, at the thought "I will probably never hear that played as well ever again."

When it was broadcast a week or so later, I found the first half much better than I remembered - and in particular, containing much more interest than I'd picked up on the night.  Whereas the second half - though clearly still a superb example of its kind - did not convey anything of that "once in a lifetime" sensation that was so obvious on the night.

Tonight's Prom is being re-broadcast next Monday afternoon.  I'd be interested, if Mark's able to hear that, in how he thinks it compares with what he heard in the hall tonight.