M9 Concertus Interruptus

[Michael]

Constantin,

If Mahler's Ninth is so important to you that you would be unable to move past an accidental interuption in a live performance you were attending, then yes, I think sticking just to recordings is probably the best option.  If it were someone who deliberately left their phone on audible ring, yeah, I'd feel differently.  However...the New York Times article basically said that Patron X did not know that putting the iPhone on "mute" does not silence the alarm...not to mention not knowing about the alarm being set in the first place.  Is there such a thing any more as giving someone the benefit of the doubt?

Obviously, I wasn't there.  But I would like to think that if I had been there, my reaction to the situation, once I was presented with the facts, would have been compassionate.

[Constantin]

Yes, M9. and all Mahler for that matter, are so important to me that I strongly disapprove of any interruptions.  It does not show respect for the music, the musicians, the conductor, or the audience.

From what I read in the newspaper stories, the "alarm" continued for several minutes, resulting in the conductor being distracted and asking the man if he were ready to continue.

Yes, I could stay home and listen to Mahler recordings, but I feel cheated to be forced to give up live performances.
A person who does not know how to drive a car should not do it, and a person who cannot keep his cellphone quiet should not bring it or be certain he knows how to silence it before interrupting a performance.

Mahler is too sacred to me to have disruptions.  I know what Mahler would have done, had he been conducting, and it would likely have been more harsh than the conductor involved here.

Yes, I understand that everyone wants to be compassionate, but it should also be a two-way street:  those attending live performances owe it to the music and music-lovers not to detract from their enjoyment.

[brunumb]

If the nearby audience knew, and the conductor knew, how could the owner not know the source of the noise?
Perhaps he was stunned by sheer panic and embarrassment at not knowing what to do.  I know that if it was me, after a few seconds I think I would have made a dash for the nearest exit.

Accidents will happen.  But it's not an accident when some yahoo leaps up before the last chord has faded and hollers "Bravo".  That is another real mood killer, and the offenders should be stoned on the spot.  Perhaps people could throw mobile phones at them 

[Roffe]

But it's not an accident when some yahoo leaps up before the last chord has faded and hollers "Bravo".  That is another real mood killer, and the offenders should be stoned on the spot.  Perhaps people could throw mobile phones at them 

M9 requires at least a minute or two in total silence after the music has faded away. So please, no applause or "bravo", thank you.

Roffe

[yiwufan]

Constantin,

If Mahler's Ninth is so important to you that you would be unable to move past an accidental interuption in a live performance you were attending, then yes, I think sticking just to recordings is probably the best option.  If it were someone who deliberately left their phone on audible ring, yeah, I'd feel differently.  However...the New York Times article basically said that Patron X did not know that putting the iPhone on "mute" does not silence the alarm...not to mention not knowing about the alarm being set in the first place.  Is there such a thing any more as giving someone the benefit of the doubt?

Obviously, I wasn't there.  But I would like to think that if I had been there, my reaction to the situation, once I was presented with the facts, would have been compassionate.

I don't think there is any doubt that it was an accident, and Patron X obviously feels horrible, but unfortunately this is not a question of his intent.  It's the fact that he was negligent and ruined an entire concert for a hall full of people.  In the big scheme of things this is not a ridiculous crime, nothing of the sort - it was just an accident.  But music like this is a shared act of creation, a chance for us to move beyond this world, and it is frustrating that it was ruined by something as banal as a cell phone.

If anything can be learned by this it is that going to see a live music event, something like a Mahler symphony, is a special event and that concert goers should be extremely conscientious in making sure that they don't ruin it for others.  I think concert etiquette is extremely important - going to see music performed live is nothing like listening to it on recording - for many attendees their own mental concentration is key in enjoying the event, and so etiquette becomes almost as important as the level of the musicianship of the performers.

[stillivor]

[

"Accidents will happen.  But it's not an accident when some yahoo leaps up before the last chord has faded and hollers "Bravo".  That is another real mood killer, and the offenders should be stoned on the spot. "


I did that once, at the end of M6, when I was a greenhorn 20-year-old. M6 was, and is, m favourite piece of music. I'd heard a wonderful performance tho' I was naive enough not to have been deeply affected the way I am these days.[ A performance i went to a few years ago had me in tears into my girlfriend's arms for about 10 minutes afterwards.] So I ws full to the gunnells with appreciation, and it was a Prom in the days the Prommers regularly erupted fortissimo.

Perhaps a lot of people go through a phase of wanting to erupt first. In my case, that passed a long time ago.

Of course I've since regretted it. Nevertheless I looked forward to a repeat broadcast the following Spring and was relieved to hear the beeb couldn't broadcast the performance as, by mistake, the taped had been wiped.

Perhaps the positive of the latest event is that some more people have become sensitised to mobiles. Otoh, nothing seems to stem the continuing, seemngly eternal members of the Coughers' Union.



    Ivor

P.S. I can't tell from the preview if the quote will be in abluish box.

[hrandall]

If nothing else, I hope this will remind people to turn OFF their gadgets fully when attending a public performance. Working with technology, I will say the various manufacturers don't often make it easy to totally silence the things unless they are fully powered down.

Cheers,
Herb

[wagnerlover]

I understand that there is technology that would allow a concert hall's management to block all cell phone signals, but that for whatever (legal?) reasons it is not employed.

And in the case of the NYPO Mahler 9 it wouldn't have worked anyway since the ringing wasn't from a phone call but from an alarm in the phone.

db

[stillivor]

I'm still hoping not to be stoned on the spot. Since it was the 60s, perhaps it's too far in the past :-)



    Ivor

[stillivor]

Some might enjoy this and note the musician's corollary to Murphy's Law.

http://euge.ca/2012/01/13/interruption/



    Ivor

[stillivor]

On the other hand, a lovely way to deal with a phone interruption

http://gigaom.com/mobile/nokia-ringtone-during-violin-solo-yields-classical-improv/



    Ivor