Most disasterous concert experience?

[an...@detroit.freenet.org]

Its quite clear that readers of this group have wide and varied
concert-going experience. Would any be willing to share their
most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which
something went disasterously wrong? Perhaps the conductor had to
fight the orchestra through to the end of the music, or maybe
it merely started raining--these things do happen and can be
quite amusing, in retorspect (although I doubt the performers
or audience thought so at the time!). Opera has its bouncing
Toscas; let's give orchestra-goers equal time.
Brendan Wehrung

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Well, it was before my time, but there was the occasion when Simon
Barere was playing the Grieg Piano Concerto with the Philadelphia
Orchestra and dropped dead in the first movement.
--
"There is a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased
that line." -- Oscar Levant
Matthew B. Tepper du...@deltanet.com CIS: 71031,2415
Visit my Berlioz page! http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm

[Steven Martin]

My worst concert experience have always been due to audience members.
Alarm watches are a true nuisance but in general the problem seems to be
audience members who are bored by Classical music distract other audience
members by shuffling, sighing, looking at their watches or whining about
how long the music is. I live in Washington D.C. and the audiences are
inexcusably rude. I am about ready to start driving to Philadelphia for
live music. Is Muti still conducting there?

Steve M. (Northern Virginia)

[Brian MacGilvray]

Picking up on "alarming" distractions, many Chicagoans remember or read
in the papers about Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Piano, Strategically-
Placed Alarm Clocks & Orchestra, as performed by the CSO at their 100th
anniversary gala concert. Many of those in attendance sporting black ties
and their equivalent female accoutrements (myself not among them) had
transported into the hall gifts which had been presented to them at a
gala banquet directly before the concert. The gifts, still wrapped,
happened to be fancy alarm clocks of some sort, many of which had been
timed (purposefully or not, I'm not sure) to go off in, as it happened,
the middle of the slow movement, which was being very eloquently rendered
by Daniel Barenboim (with Solti at the baton). What started off as a
solitary beeping, generating some annoyance, turned into a multi-sourced
disaster. No one seemed able to discern where the noises were coming
from, and things gradually fell apart. Solti stopped the music, made some
sort of barely intelligible plea to the audience about the importance of
uninterrupted music, most of the violinists were clearly disgusted, and
finally Henry Fogel emerged amidst the uproar from backstage, microphone
in hand, to deliver an explanation and apology. Lord only knows what sort
of furious conference was held backstage prior to his appearance. The
still-wrapped alarm clocks, of which there were a good number, were
removed from the concert hall and the performance continued.

The rest of the concert was spectacular.

[David Leonard]

sdu...@concentric.net (Stephen Dunkel) wrote:

> Would any be willing to share their
>>most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which
>>something went disasterously wrong?
>

At a BBC Promenade Concert performance of Holst's "The Planets" at the
Royal Albert Hall in London which I attended in the 1970s, the
conductor had placed the female chorus who conclude the work in the
top gallery, with instructions to slowly back out of the hall, still
vocalising, as the work came to end, to give the impression of the
sound gradually dying away into an ethereal silence.

When the moment came, the Hall attendant threw open the doors with a
thunderous crash and shouted at the top of his voice "Mind the step,
ladies"!

David
-------------
David Leonard dan...@dircon.co.uk
"As repressed sadists are supposed to become policemen or butchers,
so those with an irrational fear of life become publishers".
Cyril Connolly, Enemies of promise.

[Stephen Dunkel]

Would any be willing to share their
>most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which
>something went disasterously wrong?

Some of you CSO-goers may remember a Mahler 3 performance with Zubin Mehta in
1991. I can't remember which movement this was in, but in a *very* quiet spot,
Bud Herseth, the principal trumpet, dropped his straight mute. It thundered
onto the floor. I was watching him as this happened, and he calmly reached
down, picked it up, and put it on George Vosburg's, 2nd trumpet, stand. At
that moment I thought... you aren't fooling anyone, Bud! But...

Bud gives masterclasses at his church every now and then, and I went to learn
a few things (I play bass trombone). He told that same story, but after the
concert, as he was riding home on the "L," he overheard two little old ladies
saying "Didn't you see that nice man pick up what his friend dropped?"

Stephen

[Naun Chew]

an...@detroit.freenet.org wrote:
>Would any be willing to share their
>most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which
>something went disasterously wrong?

At a performance of Mahler's Third Symphony in Vienna, a member of the
chorus fainted during the last movement and had to be carried out as the
orchestra did its best to continue playing. I seem to recall that one of
the cellists laid down his instrument and helped.

Naun.

[Roger Lopez]

Well, my disastrous experience is a fairly recent one. It took
place last spring break in Mexico City at a concert by the Mexico City
Philharmonic. First of all, there was a manifestation by political
protesters with loudspeakers outside the theater, and they were quite
audible during the quieter parts. I was assigned a seat directly in front
of a row of chattering schoolchildren. After the first piece, the
overture to "The Marriage of Figaro", I changed seats only to discover
that the adults in the audience were no more urbane than the children. I
remember the trance of a beautiful violin solo being shattered by some
boor behind me loudly remarking "What a pretty piece!". By the end of the
concert, these concertgoers had lost their thin veneer of civility and
were chattering continuously. The performance closed with Ravel's
"Bolero" and I remember that as the music grew louder, the chatter did
too.
What I took to be the moral of this episode was "avoid buying dirt
cheap tickets". However, a month or so later I sat in the fifth row of a
concert by the San Jose symphony listening to some unspeakable lady
palaver with her two young daughters all through Tschaikowsky's fifth. I
concluded that expense is no safeguard against the rudeness of fellow
concertgoers. Why do these people take the expense and trouble to go to a
concert hall and hold conversations they could hold more comfortably in
the privacy of their own home? :p

[Richard Schultz]

I have been spared any of the spectacular disasters (although my parents
once told me about a concert they went to at which a disturbed person
began shouting incoherently in the middle of a performance by Itzhak
Perlman), although I've heard the traditional brass screwups on "big
finale" cords. Once I heard the Pittsburgh Symphony do Mahler's 1st
with some guest conductor (back in the 70's, they apparently refused
to play well for anyone besides Previn) and the entire brass section
played through the last movement each one in his own key.

I don't know if this counts, but I was once at a performance of
Tchaikowsky's 5th symphony in which the conductor (Joseph Silverstein)
decided to prevent inapproprate audience applause by ignoring the G.P.
after the half-cadence near the end of the first movement. That is
to say, he just held the chord and moved straight on to the coda with
no pause whatsoever. That counts as the only concert that I have actually
booed at the end of. Since everyone else in the hall was giving it a
standing ovation (basic rule of thumb for Utah Symphony Concerts: anything
romantic ending with a loud major chord will get a standing ovation),
my boos were kind of lost in the noise, though.

-----
Richard Schultz sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry tel: 972-3-531-8065
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel fax: 972-3-535-1250
-----
There's something I must tell you, there's something I must say:
The only really perfect love is one that gets away.

[Richard Landau]

In article <4t3rmi$9...@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au>, Naun Chew
<Naun...@lib.monash.edu.au> writes

Always disconcerting that sort of thing. About two years ago I attended
a Philharmonia concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London. After the
interval the work being played was, if I remember rightly, one of the
Dvorak symphonies. Hugh Bean, now retired as full-time leader of the
orchestra, often plays with them today as ad hoc leader and is still
quite active in concert life here.

In the third movement of the symphony, which was beginning to go full
belt, some of us in the audience began to notice that Mr.Bean was slowly
leaning more and more forward. Clearly he was going to hit the deck and
yet the orchestra and conductor were ploughing on, unaware of the
situation. After quite a bit of time the second desk violins abandoned
instruments and moved forward to assist Bean. Still the symphony
proceeded unabated. After what seemed an age the conductor eventually
noticed his concert-master's condition and everything ground to a halt
with some considerable concern apparent on all sides.

Bean was carried off and the performance resumed from the beginning of
the movement without him. The audience were obviously very concerned for
him and the ensuing performance never really quite recovered.

I'm glad to report that Hugh Bean is still working away and never seems
to age at all. I remember him leading the Philharmonia under Klemperer
(what a solo in the Missa Solemnis Benedictus!), Giulini and all the
greats of the fifties and sixties. Neil Tingley has just reminded me of
Bean's wonderful Vaughan-Williams Lark Ascending under Boult. I doubt
whether anyone will ever do it better. Is it available on CD?

---------------
I also recall that a few years ago, Yuri Simonov conducted a performance
of Mahler's 3rd symphony at the Royal Festival Hall in London. In an
outbreak of something like mass hysteria (it wasn't particularly warm
weather) a whole bunch of boy choristers began to faint one after the
other. Because of their location on stage there was no way in which they
could be assisted without completely disrupting the music and so the
audience had to watch this uncomfortable scene right through to the end
of the movement. The finale proceeded after their removal for first aid.

---------------
Lastly, has anyone mentioned the evening the rain poured through the
roof into the arena of the Royal Albert Hall during a London Promenade
concert? Attendants moved in with heaps of towelling in an attempt to
soak up the puddles. The performance was unaffected.

---------------

--
Richard Landau

[James Kahn]

I've told this one once before, but here it goes:

At a Rochester Philharmonic concert, conducted by Jerzy Semkow, the opening
piece was the "Italian in Algiers" overture. After the slow introduction,
there's a pause, and then "da-da-dum--dum--dum--crash!" (the last
being a sudden forte with cymbals, etc.) At this moment a startled baby
begins wailing (how someone got a baby into the concert is anyone's guess).
Semkow calmly steps off the podium and walks off the stage. Two minutes
later he walks back on as though nothing had happened, takes his usual
bows, and begins the concert again. No baby the second time through, though
I know my heart was racing at the end of the introduction not knowing
whether the baby was still in the audience.

--Jim
====================================================================
ka...@troi.cc.rochester.edu Department of Economics
http://kahn.econ.rochester.edu University of Rochester
Rochester, NY 14627

[EACowan]

The most disastrous concert that I can recall occurred in Dallas back in,
I should think, the late 60s or early 70s:

The Israel Philharmonic was playing, conducted by Reinhard Peters. The
music-making wasn't going very well, and the audience left the hall
(McFarlin Auditorium, on the campus of SMU) with almost visible smoke
coming out their ears! But the ultimate occurred when the podium collapsed
beneath the conductor's feet! --E.A.C.

[Chuck Ross]

The most disastrous concert experience in my recollection was caused by
myself at an Andres Segovia concert at Chicago's Civic Opera house some
years ago.

While the great guitarist was playing some quiet piece by Bach, I suddenly
began to have a coughing attack. It just wouldn't stop.

I was sitting very close to front center, and I decided to get up and leave
the hall.

As I began walking back to the exit, my ankle, which had some occaisional
problem, began to 'SNAP!" LOUDLY as I walked...with each step, there was
a cough, then a "SNAP!".

Every eye in the house was glaring at me...Segovia stopped playing. When I
was finally safely outside the hall, he began the piece again.

I'll -never- live this down.....

--
Chuck Ross KC9FL South Holland, IL ckr...@ais.net

[Mike Quigley]

rlo...@Turing.Stanford.EDU (Roger Lopez) wrote:

>First of all, there was a manifestation by political
>protesters with loudspeakers outside the theater, and they were quite
>audible during the quieter parts.

I once attended a performance by the Juilliard String Quartet at the Queen
Elizabeth Playhouse in Vancouver which is right next door to the Queen
Elizabeth Theatre. Unfortunately, the walls between the two weren't very
soundproof, since the very loud sounds of some country and western concert
in the Theatre next door were very audible throughout the entire Juilliard
concert!

Once I went to a Frank Zappa concert in the Theatre which was so loud
afterwards I was slightly deaf ... I pity any concerts in the Playhouse
during that show!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check my WWW page for some classical/soundtrack CDs for sale (and the award-
winning Hawaii Five-O Home Page too!): http://web20.mindlink.net/a4369/

[Mike Quigley]

I wasn't there, but I'm told that when Ronald Turini played the Schumann
piano concerto with the Vancouver Symphony many years ago, he had a total
mental blackout and the concert had to stop while the conductor showed him
the score.

I was present at another concert where pianist Ludwig Olshansky (sp?) lost
his place in the Tchaikovsky first piano concerto. Fortunately he got it
together at one of the climaxes which followed a few minutes later.

Probably the most celebrated goof at the Vancouver Symphony is when the
first trombone player totally fucked up the solo in Ravel's Bolero (Lukas
Foss was the conductor). Apparently this trombone player (long since
retired from the VSO) had some kind of mental block over this and other
pieces where the trombones enter after much inactivity on relatively high
notes (like the Brahms First Symphony). This Bolero flub was truly gross
.. it sounded like he was spitting for about 10 seconds!!

[Naun Chew]

Two near-disasters:

1. Sir Colin Davis

In London's Queen Elizabeth Hall the choir stalls are on the same
platform as the stage. At the end of a concert by the Chamber Orchestra
of Europe, one lady who had been seated in the choir stalls hurried to
leave the hall, laden with the day's shopping and obviously eager to beat
the crowds. Unfortunately, her exit took her right across the path of Sir
Colin Davis, who was just coming back on stage to take his bows, and they
very nearly collided.

Sir Colin, ever the perfect gentleman, took a step back and, with a
chivalrous flourish, waved her past.

2. Herbert von Karajan

Most of you will know that in his old age Herbert von Karajan suffered
from severe back trouble and was barely able to walk. Rather than submit
to the indignity of using a stick or having someone help him on stage, he
had a railing built from the side of the stage to the podium on which he
supported himself as he gingerly walked on stage. When he stopped to
greet the concertmaster, the latter would give him what was ostensibly a
handshake but would firmly hoist him onto the rostrum in the same
movement. Once there, Karajan would mount himself on a discreetly
positioned bicycle seat so as to be able to conduct more or less from a
standing position.

At the end of a concert I attended in Berlin in 1987 Karajan was making
his way off stage when an admirer rushed up to him and presented him with
an enormous bouquet of flowers. He accepted it with a gracious nod, then
stood helplessly immobile for several moments - with the weight of the
flowers, he was simply unable to move any further. An assistant rescued
him from this predicament by running onto the stage and taking the
flowers from him.

It was a very funny incident, but also rather moving. Karajan died
eighteen months later.

Naun.

[Phil Roberts]

Not terribly disastrous, but most amusing. At the Lyric Opera in Chicago
in 1988, between Acts I and II of Don G. I was sitting there thumbing
through the program and there was a group of three people in the row
in front of me talking about school at the U of C. One of them, a young
woman, was in her first year. She was sitting somewhere else, but had
come over to talk to these two older gents, probably in their 40s.
After a bit, one of the guys says to the others, "Get a load of the guy
in the flourescent suit!" He pointed to the center aisle. I looked over
and this guy was coming down the stairs in the brightest orange sports coat
I had ever scene. So these three start cracking jokes about the coat, his
dressing habits, where he picked his wardrobe, etc. Well, the guy walks
down the stairs to the row in front of the group in front of me, then
turns down that row toward us. He walks up and takes his seat right next
to his wife, who was sitting in front of the group making the gags! She
must've heard everything! They all looked like they could've died. I
could hardly keep from bursting. The young woman made some comment about
going to the restroom and bounded up the stairs, but the two guys were
stuck. Most amuzing.

Phil

--
-------------------------------------------------------
Phil Roberts rob...@cig.mot.com
Motorola, Arlington Heights, Illinois
847 632 7984

[James C Liu]

This reminds me of the great urban legend ... (always worth
recirculating every once in a while)
---------------------------cut heer--------------------------------
Subject: The Famous Bangkok Recital

Courtesy of Jim Moskowitz (jim...@eniac.seas.upenn.edu)

This review by Kenneth Langbell appeared in the English Language Bangkok
Post. At some stage, it was made available by Martin Bernheimer of the
Los Angeles Times, and has been doing the rounds for at least twenty
years. According to journalist friends, it still turns up on the wire
services from time to time.

A Humid Recital Stirs Bangkok

The recital, last evening in the chamber music room of the Erawan Hotel
by U.S. Pianist Myron Kropp, the first appearance of Mr. Kropp in
Bangkok, can only be described by this reviewer and those who witnessed
Mr. Kropp's performance as one of the most interesting experiences in a
very long time.

A hush fell over the room as Mr. Kropp appeared from the right of the
stage, attired in black formal evening-wear with a small white poppy in
his lapel. With sparse, sandy hair, a sallow complexion and a deceptively
frail looking frame, the man who has repopularized Johann Sebastian Bach
approached the Baldwin Concert Grand, bowed to the audience and placed
himself upon the stool.

It might be appropriate to insert at this juncture that many pianists,
including Mr. Kropp, prefer a bench, maintaining that on a screw-type
stool, they sometimes find themselves turning sideways during a
particularly expressive strain. There was a slight delay, in fact, as Mr
Kropp left the stage briefly, apparently in search of a bench, but
returned when informed that there was none.

As I have mentioned on several other occasions, the Baldwin Concert
Grand, while basically a fine instrument, needs constant attention,
particularly in a climate such as Bangkok. This is even more true when
the instrument is as old as the one provided in the chamber music room of
the Erawan Hotel. In this humidity, the felts which separate the white
keys from the black tend to swell, causing an occasional key to stick,
which apparently was the case last evening with the D in the second
octave.

During the "raging storm" section of the D-Minor Toccata and Fugue, Mr.
Kropp must be complimented for putting up with the awkward D. However, by
the time the "storm" was past and he had gotten into the Prelude and
Fugue in D Major, in which the second octave D plays a major role, Mr.
Kropp's patience was wearing thin.

Some who attended the performance later questioned whether the awkward
key justified some of the language which was heard coming from the stage
during softer passages of the fugue. However, one member of the audience,
who had sent his children out of the room by the midway point of the
fugue, had a valid point when he commented over the music and
extemporaneous remarks of Mr. Kropp that the workman who had greased the
stool might have done better to use some of the grease on the second
octave D. Indeed, Mr. Kropp's stool had more than enough grease and
during one passage in which the music and lyrics were both particularly
violent, Mr. Kropp was turned completely around. Whereas before his
remarks had been aimed largely at the piano and were therefore somewhat
muted, to his surprise and that of those in the chamber music room he
found himself addressing himself directly to the audience.

But such things do happen, and the person who began to laugh deserves to
be severely reprimanded for this undignified behavior. Unfortunately,
laughter is contagious, and by the time it had subsided and the audience
had regained its composure Mr. Kropp appeared somewhat shaken.
Nevertheless, he swiveled himself back into position facing the piano
and, leaving the D Major Fugue unfinished, commenced on the Fantasia and
Fugue in G Minor.

Why the concert grand piano's G key in the third octave chose that
particular time to begin sticking I hesitate to guess. However, it is
certainly safe to say that Mr. Kropp himself did nothing to help matters
when he began using his feet to kick the lower portion of the piano
instead of operating the pedals as is generally done.

Possibly it was this jarring or the un-Bach-like hammering to which the
sticking keyboard was being subjected. Something caused the right front
leg of the piano to buckle slightly inward, leaving the entire instrument
listing at approximately a 35-degree angle from that which is normal. A
gasp went up from the audience, for if the piano had actually fallen
several of Mr. Kropp's toes if not both his feet, would surely have been
broken.

It was with a sigh of relief therefore, that the audience saw Mr. Kropp
slowly rise from his stool and leave the stage. A few men in the back of
the room began clapping and when Mr. Kropp reappeared a moment later it
seemed he was responding to the ovation. Apparently, however, he had left
to get a red- handled fire ax which was hung back stage in case of fire,
for that was what was in his hand.

My first reaction at seeing Mr. Kropp begin to chop at the left leg of
the grand piano was that he was attempting to make it tilt at the same
angle as the right leg and thereby correct the list. However, when the
weakened legs finally collapsed altogether with a great crash and Mr.
Kropp continued to chop, it became obvious to all that he had no
intention of going on with the concert.

The ushers, who had heard the snapping of piano wires and splintering of
sounding board from the dining room, came rushing in and, with the help
of the hotel manager, two Indian watchmen and a passing police corporal,
finally succeeded in disarming Mr. Kropp and dragging him off the stage.
--
/James C.S. Liu "... of all the animals, the boy
jl...@world.std.com is the most unmanageable."
New Haven, Connecticut -- Plato

[StoOdin101]

a concert in which Thomas Conlin led the WVA Symphony Orch in a rousing
performance of Respighi's "Pines of Rome", only to have the entire
audience break into murmurs and mumbles when the recorded birdsong was
played:"I hear a bird!" "There's a bird in here!" "how awful, John, Im
sure a bird is up in the ventilation system!" "Do you hear that bird, or
am I going crazy?" etc etc etc. This did tend to destroy the mood Respighi
was shooting for, I'm sure.

"We Know you Can Hear Us, Earthmen"...a C-45 of electronic music with
influences as diverse as Raymond Scott, Magma and Tangerine Dream...
available now...email StoOd...@aol.com for more info.

[Andrew Block]

When I was in Jr. High school I attended a concert by the Milwaukee
Symphony, and the first half of the program featured a Rachmoninoff
piano concerto. During the brief opener, which I believe was a Von Suppe
overture or something similar, the front part of the lift stage began to
drop. The piano (already on stage) and conducter slowly vanished from
sight. Additionally, some platforms for the back rows of violins and
cellos were resting half on the main stage and half on the lift stage,
and they suddenly began tipping over. The musicians barely avoided
falling and smashing their instruments. Fortunately nobody was injured,
and the remainder of the orchestra went on to finish the piece and most
everyone had a good laugh. Not disasterous but certainly unusual.

[Mike Quigley]

Naun Chew <Naun...@lib.monash.edu.au> wrote:

>At a performance of Mahler's Third Symphony in Vienna, a member of the
>chorus fainted during the last movement and had to be carried out as the
>orchestra did its best to continue playing. I seem to recall that one of
>the cellists laid down his instrument and helped.

This reminds me of a story where I was present at a concert at the
University of BC with chorus and symphony many years ago. Before the show,
myself and several others had been having a few (?) drinks nearby. When we
arrived at the concert, the place was absolutely packed, and I had to sit
on the steps down near the front of the theatre. Anyway, as the concert
went on, I began to feel the effects of boozing, i.e., I had to piss like a
racehorse, and there was no way I could get out of the theatre the normal
way, up through the back. Finally, in serious agony, I exited the only way
possible ... up onto the stage and through the orchestra and the back door
of the stage! After I had done my "business" in the backstage washroom, one
of the female choir members also departed from the concert, she was just
about ready to pass out in the stifling heat!

[James Pann]

Richard Schultz wrote:
>
>... Since everyone else in the hall was giving it a
> standing ovation ....
>

About 15 years (?) ago, I was at a concert at Oakland's Paramont Theater
where the aging Yehudi Menuhin was the soloist for Elgar's violin
concerto; it was sad to see that almost all down-bow was jumping (sorry,
I wonder if I used the right word) and the notes were so out of pitch
which made me wanted to cover my ears. Almost everyone in the theater
was giving him a standing ovation except me. I just sat there. An old
lady standing next to me gave me several (not one) scolding look,
thinking I did not appreciate the performance. What could I say....
--
James Y. Pann

"It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning".
Colin Powell

[Ryan Flatt]

> I don't know if this counts, but I was once at a performance of
> Tchaikowsky's 5th symphony in which the conductor (Joseph Silverstein)
> decided to prevent inapproprate audience applause by ignoring the G.P.
> after the half-cadence near the end of the first movement. That is
> to say, he just held the chord and moved straight on to the coda with
> no pause whatsoever. That counts as the only concert that I have actually
> booed at the end of. Since everyone else in the hall was giving it a
> standing ovation (basic rule of thumb for Utah Symphony Concerts: anything
> romantic ending with a loud major chord will get a standing ovation),
> my boos were kind of lost in the noise, though.

Utah Symphony? That's funny. My friend bought a recording of them playing Star Wars
and I have to tell you, I have never heard so many mistakes in one recording. Just
though I would say something about that.

The only big screw up I've experienced at a concert is watching the Nashville Symphony
playing Venus from the Planets by Holst. The flute came in a measure early at one point
and the conductor looked like he was swatting flys trying to get his attention.

Ryan Flatt

[Matthew Shou-Chung Shum]

On 26 Jul 1996, Chase Kimball wrote:

> No one has mentioned personal performance disasters, but I am (happy?) to
> relate one of mine. It was in high school and I was at a recital with
[...]

I was playing the piano part of the Archduke Trio in St. Paul's Chapel on
the COlumbia UNiversity campus-- tons of reverb there. In the middle of
the long variation in the third movement (where the piano has arpeggios
while the violin and cello harmonize) I realized we were all on different
bars-- underrehearsed doesn't begin to describe our preparation! I
stopped and burst out laughing--- I couldn't help it, it just seemed so
incongruous. And then the violinist determinedly counted off and on we
continued... The ten or so people in the audience didn't seem to notice,
however.

Matt

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Matthew Shum (415) 725-8929
cas...@leland.stanford.edu
http://www.stanford.edu/~castorp

[James C Liu]

Mr_Gi...@mindlink.net (Mike Quigley) writes:

>I wasn't there, but I'm told that when Ronald Turini played the Schumann
>piano concerto with the Vancouver Symphony many years ago, he had a total
>mental blackout and the concert had to stop while the conductor showed him
>the score.

>I was present at another concert where pianist Ludwig Olshansky (sp?) lost
>his place in the Tchaikovsky first piano concerto. Fortunately he got it
>together at one of the climaxes which followed a few minutes later.

Stories are told about famous pianists flubbing up concerto
performances. I think it was Thomas Beecham who "followed" Alfred
Cortot through the Schumann, the Beethoven 4th, a Mozart, the Grieg,
and the Chopin 1, but then Cortot hit on a concerto that Beecham
didn't recognize, and he had to call a halt. The other story centered
around a Brahms 2nd given by Artur Schnabel with Bruno Walter.
Schnabel got lost, and Walter did his best to keep up, but it finally
became muddled enough that the two called a halt, huddled over the
conductor's score, picked a part to start afresh, and proceeded to
give a flawless account of the rest of the piece.

This is strictly OTTOMH, so forgive any exaggerations or lapses.
My source is Harold Schonberg, _The Great Pianists_. There are also a
few stories of musicians dying in the midst of a performance. I don't
recall any particularly good examples.

[Chew Kia Khang]

Richard Landau wrote:
> ... Neil Tingley has just reminded me of

> Bean's wonderful Vaughan-Williams Lark Ascending under Boult. I doubt

> whether anyone will ever do it better. Is it available on CD? ...

It is included in "Greensleeves" [EMI CDZ 7 62527 2], a collection of
works by English Composers.

Chew Kia Khang
che...@singnet.com.sg

[Chase Kimball]

In article <4ssarm$e...@lex.zippo.com>, an...@detroit.freenet.org says...
>
>Its quite clear that readers of this group have wide and varied
>concert-going experience. Would any be willing to share their

>most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which

>something went disasterously wrong? Perhaps the conductor had to
>fight the orchestra through to the end of the music, or maybe
>it merely started raining--these things do happen and can be
>quite amusing, in retorspect (although I doubt the performers
>or audience thought so at the time!). Opera has its bouncing
>Toscas; let's give orchestra-goers equal time.
>Brendan Wehrung

No one has mentioned personal performance disasters, but I am (happy?) to
relate one of mine. It was in high school and I was at a recital with

several other allegedly gifted students. I was on tap for a couple of short
Chopin and Scriabin pieces. My girlfriend had attended the concert with me,
and was wearing an extremely short skirt, as was the style in 1972. She had
also just shaved her legs for the occasion, and coated them with a thin
layer of Vaseline to soothe the irritation. Her legs felt so wonderfully
smooth that I just sat their rubbing them hypnotically while waiting my
turn, and consequently coating my fingers with Vaseline. As I struck the
first chords to the Waltz in C-sharp Minor my fingers slid all over the
keyboard, and I knew I was in very serious trouble. Too shocked or stupid
to have the presence of mind to wipe my hands off, I soldiered through the
first piece and then left the stage in shame as soon as possible. I am
amazed that I ever got on stage again!
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+Chase Kimball (ch...@aros.net), nom de plum "Lord Brancaster" +
+ +
+My heart in hiding stirred for a bird, the achieve of, the mastery+
+of the thing! "The Windhover" Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. +
+ +
+Visit my home page at http://www.aros.net/~chase to view the +
+virtual gallery of fantasy art of Jesse Allen, and the home site +
+of the Wasatch Avian Education Society. +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[E. Kammin]

an...@detroit.freenet.org wrote:
>
> Its quite clear that readers of this group have wide and varied
> concert-going experience. Would any be willing to share their
> most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which
> something went disasterously wrong?

I recall a near-disaster at a concert quite a few years ago, in which Bruno
Walter was conducting the Mahler 4th with the New York Phil.-Sym. The
orchestra's concertmaster at the time, John Corigliano (father of the
composer), was playing the violin solo in the second movement, when one of
his strings snapped.

In a fraction of a second, as if they had been rehearsing it for hours,
Corigliano and the assistant concertmaster next to him swapped violins.
Corigliano then continued his solo (having hardly missed a beat), while the
assitant concertmaster changed the broken string.

Ed Kammin

[Edward Givelberg]

James C Liu wrote:
>
There are also a
> few stories of musicians dying in the midst of a performance. I don't
> recall any particularly good examples.
>
>

That's a great statement.

Ed

[Chuck Ross]

In article <31F8E6...@frontiernet.net>, "E. Kammin" <eka...@frontiernet.net> wrote:

> I recall a near-disaster at a concert quite a few years ago, in which Bruno
> Walter was conducting the Mahler 4th with the New York Phil.-Sym. The
> orchestra's concertmaster at the time, John Corigliano (father of the
> composer), was playing the violin solo in the second movement, when one of
> his strings snapped.
>
> In a fraction of a second, as if they had been rehearsing it for hours,
> Corigliano and the assistant concertmaster next to him swapped violins.
> Corigliano then continued his solo (having hardly missed a beat), while the
> assitant concertmaster changed the broken string.
>
> Ed Kammin

Corigliano is no match for Heifetz.

I was present at a Heifetz recital when a string broke.

The great violinist stopped playing, reached into his pocket, pulled
out a new string, opened the package, removed the broken string from
the fiddle, replaced it with the new one, tuned up for a couple of
seconds, then began the piece again.

The audience was deathly still during this.

I wish I could have said he continued the piece on the other three
strings like Tartini (I think) did, but it didn't happen.

[Dan Koren]

In article <Dv3ys...@world.std.com> jl...@world.std.com (James C Liu) writes:
>My source is Harold Schonberg, _The Great Pianists_. There are also a

>few stories of musicians dying in the midst of a performance. I don't
>recall any particularly good examples.

That sounds rather cynical, doesn't it? Or are you looking at
things from a medical perspective?

:-)

dk

[Matthew B. Tepper]

A couple of decades ago, I received some free tickets to hear my very
favorite violinist, Kyung-Wha Chung, play the Vieuxtemps Concerto #5
with the Oakland Symphony (also at the Paramount Theater!).
Unfortunately, Ms. Chung became ill and had to cancel. In her place
they found a young American violinist who played the Sibelius Concerto
(one of my favorite such works). He swooped and swerved, pulling the
music out of place like taffy. I would have walked out if I hadn't been
with a friend whom I didn't want to embarrass.

The next year, this blitheringly incompetent American shared the bronze
medal (no gold or silver were given) in the Tchaikovsky Competition.
His name was Eugene Fodor. That great bastion of musical taste, _Time_
was spurred by Fodor's publicist to refer to him as "the top
prize-winner" of the competition, which may be technically true but
still a damnfool lie.
Fodor has had his problems on and off with cocaine addiction over the
years, making me wonder if perhaps he went into the "wrong" kind of
music....

--
"Robert A. Heinlein -- An incontestably great science fiction writer,
whose social philosophies were as nearly as ludicrous as his politics
were loathsome." -- from _The Tepper's Dictionary_, work in progress
Matthew B. Tepper http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm Quack!

[E. Kammin]

James Kahn wrote:
>
> I've told this one once before, but here it goes:

> being a sudden forte with cymbals, etc.) At this moment a startled baby

> begins wailing (how someone got a baby into the concert is anyone's guess).
> Semkow calmly steps off the podium and walks off the stage. Two minutes
> later he walks back on as though nothing had happened, takes his usual
> bows, and begins the concert again.

An excellent response, IMHO, on the part of Maestro Semkow. I wonder if
anyone would care to comment (pro or con) on the increasingly prevalent
practice of taking babies, or very young children, to concerts (or, for that
matter, movies, restaurants, plays, etc.) where adults might wish to be
undisturbed by crying, or high-pitched chatter?

Ed Kammin

[Allan Burns]

In article <Dv3ys...@world.std.com>, jl...@world.std.com (James C Liu) says:

>My source is Harold Schonberg, _The Great Pianists_. There are also a
>few stories of musicians dying in the midst of a performance. I don't
>recall any particularly good examples.

Simon Barere died at Carnegie Hall while playing the Grieg Concerto.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
--Allan Burns

[Gabriel Kuper]

I'm surprised that nobody else here was in San
Francisco in 1985 at the concert that probably tops them all...

The occasion was the Wagner festival around the Ring. One
concert included the Faure/Messager pieces, organ arrangements
and various choral pieces. This was one of the first concerts
with the new organ, that they were very proud of.

During the first piece, we noticed the page turner
leave his place, and start crawling aroung the console. Then
the player stopped. The organ didn't..... One of the pipes
had stuck...

By now I don't remember the exact sequence of events, but I remember
one organist (there were several of them) sitting down thinking it
was fixed, and then jumping up in panic as it started again. Another
who stopped (in the middle of the Lohengrin prelude) and told
us that he would play louder to try to drown it out....

The there was McEwan apologising for the problems (and announcing
the latest of several unplanned intermissions): A very high-tech loudspeaker
system came out of the ceiling, and then he came out with a mike
attached to a very short wire ("if they give me enough rope,
I'll hang myself").

This was definitely the funniest concert I've ever been too,
whether because of accidents, bad taste (an unbelievably bad
transcription for organ 4-hands of the Ride of the Valkyries on
a now-fixed organ), or intention (the Faure/Messager, with pianists
wearing little helmets).

Either out of courtesy, or (more likely) because they weren't there,
I don't think the concert was ever reviewed...

Gabriel Kuper

[Ahmed E. Ismail]

Chase Kimball (ch...@aros.net) wrote:
: In article <4ssarm$e...@lex.zippo.com>, an...@detroit.freenet.org says...
: >
: >Its quite clear that readers of this group have wide and varied

: >concert-going experience. Would any be willing to share their
: >most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which

: >something went disasterously wrong? Perhaps the conductor had to

: >fight the orchestra through to the end of the music, or maybe
: >it merely started raining--these things do happen and can be
: >quite amusing, in retorspect (although I doubt the performers
: >or audience thought so at the time!). Opera has its bouncing
: >Toscas; let's give orchestra-goers equal time.
: >Brendan Wehrung

Well, I *almost* witnessed quite a mess-up, but it was semi-averted, as
it were.

The scene wa the third weekend in April in New Haven, CT, where the Yale
Glee Club, Symphony Orchestra, and New Haven Chorale were dress-rehearsing
under Robert Shaw for the 50th anniversary performance of Hindemith's
"When lilacs . . . ."

The disaster occurred only in Movement No. 10, when the 'offstage bugle'
must enter unaccompanied with the "Taps" melody. That portion of the piece
was rehearsed *five* times, and every time the bugler came in a full
measure early. The only way the problem was prevented in the concert,
*the next evening*, was for Maestro Shaw to cue the bugler--an act which
totally distracts from the significance of it. [Not to mention the fact
that after the concert, someone claimed that Movement 11 was wholly
unnecessary!]

But then that doesn't even compare to the personal embarrassment when I
nearly fell from the second riser during a choir competition. . .

--AEI

[Chuck Ross]

In article <dkDv4M...@netcom.com>, d...@netcom.com (Dan Koren) wrote:

> In article <Dv3ys...@world.std.com> jl...@world.std.com (James C Liu) writes:

> >My source is Harold Schonberg, _The Great Pianists_. There are also a
> >few stories of musicians dying in the midst of a performance. I don't
> >recall any particularly good examples.

This cracked me up....

> That sounds rather cynical, doesn't it? Or are you looking at
> things from a medical perspective?
>
> :-)
>
>
> dk

The only good musician is a dead one?

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Allan Burns wrote:
>
> Simon Barere died at Carnegie Hall while playing the Grieg Concerto.

Yes, and I mentioned that in this thread a few days ago. :--)

[Matthew B. Tepper]

E. Kammin wrote:

>
> an...@detroit.freenet.org wrote:
> >
> > Its quite clear that readers of this group have wide and varied
> > concert-going experience. Would any be willing to share their
> > most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which
> > something went disasterously wrong?
>

> I recall a near-disaster at a concert quite a few years ago, in which
> Bruno Walter was conducting the Mahler 4th with the New York Phil.-Sym.
> The orchestra's concertmaster at the time, John Corigliano (father of
> the composer), was playing the violin solo in the second movement, when
> one of his strings snapped.
>
> In a fraction of a second, as if they had been rehearsing it for hours,
> Corigliano and the assistant concertmaster next to him swapped violins.
> Corigliano then continued his solo (having hardly missed a beat), while
> the assitant concertmaster changed the broken string.
>
> Ed Kammin

Believe it or not, I understand this is "standard practice" when a solo
violinist breaks a string in performance. The ultimate such occasion
that I know of was a few years ago when Midori was playing Bernstein's
"Serenade" with the composer, and broke a string; she exchanged fiddles
with the concertmaster immediately, and resumed playing. Then, she
broke yet another string on *that* violin, and had to exchange
instruments with the assistant concertmaster! The incident made the
newspapers and may have helped get her her "big break," which makes one
wonder if perhaps it was planned....

[Mike Quigley]

How about concerts with overactive page-turners?

About 25 years ago I was at a concert at Simon Fraser University where
Yvonne Loriod was playing a piece by Olivier Messiaen (the two of them were
giving a concert which included Visions de l'Amen) ... the page-turner got
totally lost and turned the page well ahead of where Mrs. Messiaen was
playing. She quickly turned the page back and gave the guy a very dirty
look!

[Michelle Dulak]

Ed Kammin writes:

>I recall a near-disaster at a concert quite a few years ago, in which Bruno
>Walter was conducting the Mahler 4th with the New York Phil.-Sym. The
>orchestra's concertmaster at the time, John Corigliano (father of the
>composer), was playing the violin solo in the second movement, when one of
>his strings snapped.

>In a fraction of a second, as if they had been rehearsing it for hours,
>Corigliano and the assistant concertmaster next to him swapped violins.
>Corigliano then continued his solo (having hardly missed a beat), while the
>assitant concertmaster changed the broken string.

Considering that the solo in Mahler 4 is written for a violin in
non-standard tuning (and notated in a different key than it sounds),
that's a pretty impressive "save."

Michelle Dulak

[Vodnik]

(Note: I posted this to alt.fan.shostakovich last year.)

Have I got a beaut for you!

Some years ago- it would have been around 1980, I think- I went to the
Robin Hood Dell West, now known as the Mann Music Center, in Philadelphia,
home of the Philadelphia Orchestra's summer park concerts. Rozhdestvensky
was the conductor, and the program was all-Shostakovich, starting with the
1st Symphony and slated to finish with the local premiere of the Tea for
Two arrangement, aka Tahiti Trot.

As Rozh. walked toward the podium, it started to rain, and then rain, and
then RAIN. The cloudburst hit the roof of the ampitheater, drowning out
the music except for the brass climaxes. After the first movement of the
Symphony, Rozh. stepped off the podium, turned to the audience, shrugged
his shoulders and left the stage. That was the last anyone saw of him.

In the meantime, the rain cascaded from the sides of the roof, poured down
the side steps, and flooded the ampitheater, causing paying customers in
the lower row to scamper for high ground. In fact, there was one rescue
of a disabled music lover by Orchestra players who helped him onto the
stage. With the wind thrown in, my vantage point in the center of the
balcony was probably the only dry spot in the place.

Eventually the concert was cancelled, and we all went to our cars to make
our way home on expressways that had become aqueducts. I was disappointed
to lose the music, but I wouldn't have missed it.

There have since been adjustments made to the Mann Center.

-Sol Siegel, Philadelphia, PA
---------------------------------------------------------
"Power corrupts, but I wouldn't mind finding out for myself."

[Mark Perlman]

There are many stories of violin soloists breakign strings and borrowing
the concertmaster's violin - in fact, it is a standard duty of the
concertmaster to be realy to make the switch if necessary. But here's a
real whopper of a broken string story:

My father, David Perlman, was principal Bassist of the Cleveland
Orchestra from 1966-81, but before that he played in New York for every
group he could - orchestras, broadway shows, jazz, etc.

In 1963-64 (aprox.) he played in as bass sideman in a jazz trio with
famed drummer Gene Krupa. In one song, there was a pre-arranged spot
coming up for my father to play an extended bass solo. A minute or two
before the bass solo, his top bass string broke (the G, the highest
pitched).

Now, you may or may not know this, but bass strings seldon break. They
are MUCH thicker than puny violin strings (though in those days of gut
strings, bass strings broke more than they do now, since they are now
standardly all metal...). The thing about a bass string breaking is that
everyone, I mean EVERYONE in the place knows it broke. It makes a loud
pop/thud sound. So, the whole audience knew it, Krupa knew it, everyone
knew it. But Krupa kept playing, and so did his loyal sidemen.

Then, even more unusual, a half minute later, a few bars before the bass
solo, the next bass string broke too!! Also with the loud thud, and
again everyone knew it, including Krupa. Krupa looked over to the
horrified expression on my father's face and at the two broken bass
strings, and glibly said: "Take it, Dave".

So my father was forced to play his big bass solo using only the 2 bottom
strings of the bass!

Let's see a violin virtuoso do that.

Mark Perlman
Dept. of Philosophy
Arizona State University

id...@asuvm.inre.asu.edu

[Leroy Curtis]

In article <31F8E4...@frontiernet.net>, "E. Kammin"
<eka...@frontiernet.net> writes

>I wonder if
>anyone would care to comment (pro or con) on the increasingly prevalent
>practice of taking babies, or very young children, to concerts (or, for that
>matter, movies, restaurants, plays, etc.) where adults might wish to be
>undisturbed by crying, or high-pitched chatter?
>

I think it's bloody ridiculous. Someone had brought a baby into the
Barbican Hall the other night. Of course it woke up and started wailing
during the concert - just before the big fugue in the finale of
Beethoven's 9th. It's a good job the parents were not within striking
distance of me. They took it out but not before the damage had been
done.

I fail to see the point of taking such a small child to a concert. You
risk spoiling the enjoyment of others, and it cannot be much fun for you
either, since you may have to exit hastily in the middle of a piece.

Regards
--
Leroy Curtis

[Richard Schultz]

Gabriel Kuper (ku...@chaos.inria.fr) wrote:

: I'm surprised that nobody else here was in San

: Francisco in 1985 at the concert that probably tops them all...

I wasn't there, but I did go to a SFSO performance of the Verdi Requiem
in which during one of the big dramatic pauses, somebody's beeper went
off (what incredible timing). You could see from the look on Blomstedt's
face that he heard it. If it had been me, I would have turned around
and said "this concert is not going to continue until whoever did that
leaves," but I guess that Blomstedt figured the best thing to do would be
to let well enough alone.

-----
Richard Schultz sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry tel: 972-3-531-8065
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel fax: 972-3-535-1250
-----
"Life is a blur of Republicans and meat." -- Zippy

[Richard Schultz]

Naun Chew (Naun...@lib.monash.edu.au) wrote:

: At a performance of Mahler's Third Symphony in Vienna, a member of the
: chorus fainted during the last movement and had to be carried out as the
: orchestra did its best to continue playing. I seem to recall that one of
: the cellists laid down his instrument and helped.

When I was in high school, I was a participant in one of those "Regional
Choir Festival" things, with a chorus of around 250 culled from high
schools in the region. We did a selection of all sorts of stuff, one
piece of which was the "Lachrymosa" movement from the Mozart Requiem.
During the performance, somebody fell off the risers, so on the
recording there's a sudden "Thud" followed by a significantly more tentative
sounding chorus.

-----
Richard Schultz sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry tel: 972-3-531-8065
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel fax: 972-3-535-1250
-----

There's something I must tell you, there's something I must say:
The only really perfect love is one that gets away.

[Pierre Paquin at Sound Dynamics Associates]

How about this experience? During a performance of Berlioz "Te Deum"
a sick alto, standing on risers above brass section, "ralphed" into
the tuba bell! It was an event that shocked even the most street- wise
and hardened of concert goers. There was much laughter. The conductor
continued as if oblivious to it all. The performance was marginally
"ok" The end result: I can no longer listen to the work with thinking
of that moment which parallels the famous Montreal-Opera-Beecham comment
after noticing the result of a horse's raised tail and stopping all
(during the Aida Grand March) saying "What a critic!"

[Curtis Croulet]

>
>About 25 years ago I was at a concert at Simon Fraser University where
>Yvonne Loriod was playing a piece by Olivier Messiaen (the two of them were
>giving a concert which included Visions de l'Amen) ... the page-turner got
>totally lost and turned the page well ahead of where Mrs. Messiaen was
>playing. She quickly turned the page back and gave the guy a very dirty
>look!
>

Well, I remember a San Diego Symphony concert where John Ogdon was soloist in
-- I think -- a piano concerto by Yardumian. The page turner evidently got
lost, and Ogdon waved her aside and did the page-turning himself.

[Curtis Croulet]

>Most of you will know that in his old age Herbert von Karajan suffered
>from severe back trouble and was barely able to walk.

Could somebody please explain that this back trouble was? I've read that he
had some sort of operation in the late 70s that left him much worse off than
before. What was the original problem? What got messed up in the operation?

[Richard Schultz]

Matthew B. Tepper (du...@deltanet.com) wrote:

: The ultimate such occasion

: that I know of was a few years ago when Midori was playing Bernstein's
: "Serenade" with the composer, and broke a string; she exchanged fiddles
: with the concertmaster immediately, and resumed playing. Then, she
: broke yet another string on *that* violin, and had to exchange
: instruments with the assistant concertmaster! The incident made the
: newspapers and may have helped get her her "big break," which makes one
: wonder if perhaps it was planned....

Supposedly, Paganini deliberately put weak strings on his violin so he
could impress everyone when one broke, and he continued on three strings;
then the second broke and he continued on two strings; then the third
broke, leaving him just with the G string (the violin kind, I mean,
although I suppose the performance would have been equally interesting
if for a different reason with the other kind) with which he would finish
the piece.

-----
Richard Schultz sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry tel: 972-3-531-8065
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel fax: 972-3-535-1250
-----

They do not think whom they souse with spray.

[Mike Quigley]

Rob Jordan, a friend and local music critic, sends along the following,
which I found especially hilarious:

There was quite a funny concert experience back at UBC in
the early '70s when Dale Reubart and Robert Rogers were playing a
two-piano recital. It was a Wednesday Noon Hour Concert and the
audience was primarily students guzzling lunch and whiling away
their lunch hour catching a free concert. However, the recital was
so late getting starting that finally someone came out to explain why:
a string on one of the pianos was so badly out of tune, they had
decided to wait until the piano tuner could get there to fix it before
starting the concert.

After even more delay, during which audience restlessness was gradually
approaching critical mass, the two pianists came out and announced
they would start the recital with a different piece from the
opening one because it used the offending note less than either of
the other two pieces on the programme. Still, you could hear it
grating away dissonantly against the harmony whenever it was played
and, every time this happened, there would be snickers and whispers
from the audience.

The piece ended. Mild applause. Uneasy looks passed between the pianists
and they glanced to the wings. Still no piano tuner.

So they came back out and played another piece which used the offending
note more than the first piece they played but not as often as the one
remaining, but as yet unplayed, piece. Every time they hit it, waves of
laughter punctuated by outright guffaws (every one of them taped by the
CBC) swept the audience. Whispers had become open conversation and
running commentary. Things were getting out of hand.

When the piece ended, the audience hubbub changed character somewhat to
take on a quasi-applausal quality among the hilarity. The pianists' glances

now were more to the heavens than to each other.

Their prayers were answered: to a rousing standing ovation, the piano
tuner arrived to save the day (and tune the piano). In a matter of
minutes, he had the note fixed and Reubart and Rogers came out to play
the first listed piece on the programme which had been delayed because
it used the offending note most of all.

The piece began. It sounded great. The pianists were in fine fettle.
Knowing, satisfied looks passed between them. The audience calmed
down, the smart-ass remarks ceased, people settled in to listen. The
pianists dug to their interpretive depths to bring out the very
best in the piece. Things were, at last, on track.

Then, suddenly, the piano tuner's dog (well known around the music
school) walked onstage briskly from one of the wings. Wagging its
tail enthusiastically, panting and drooling with tongue hanging
out, and with its usual inane grin on its face, it trotted around the
stage sniffing curiously everywhere. Barks, yelps and howls of
laughter ensued from the audience.

The pianists, unaware of the presence of the dog, were visibly perturbed
at the resumption of cacophony from the audience. However, when the dog
raised its right rear leg to pee on one of the piano legs, they caught on.
Utter pandemonium broke loose. The audience was rolling in the aisles. The
performers had to stop, the dog was removed and the pee mopped up. Then,
with a resigned air, the pianists began yet again. But it was mere
background music to the audience chatter, titters, giggles and general
unrest. The concert went down in the annals of the UBC School of Music as
its finest disaster, unsurpassed in more than 20 years. And I don't think
the CBC ever did broadcast that concert.

[James C Liu]

Allan Burns <AD...@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:

>In article <Dv3ys...@world.std.com>, jl...@world.std.com (James C Liu) says:

>>My source is Harold Schonberg, _The Great Pianists_. There are also a
>>few stories of musicians dying in the midst of a performance. I don't
>>recall any particularly good examples.

>Simon Barere died at Carnegie Hall while playing the Grieg Concerto.

Hmm. One misstatement and ...

What I meant to say was that I couldn't remember specifics on any
particularly juicy examples. I recall vague details, e.g., major part
in a tragic opera, and just at the moment of death, the singer adds a
major dose of realism to the characterization, but can't recall
anything more specific than that.

Of course, I am a singer, so my thoughts on dead musicians are
another thing entirely. =8^)
--
/James C.S. Liu "... of all the animals, the boy
jl...@world.std.com is the most unmanageable."
New Haven, Connecticut -- Plato

[James C Liu]

sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il (Richard Schultz) writes:

>I wasn't there, but I did go to a SFSO performance of the Verdi Requiem
>in which during one of the big dramatic pauses, somebody's beeper went
>off (what incredible timing). You could see from the look on Blomstedt's
>face that he heard it. If it had been me, I would have turned around
>and said "this concert is not going to continue until whoever did that
>leaves," but I guess that Blomstedt figured the best thing to do would be
>to let well enough alone.

Beepers and digital watches go off mid-concert all the time, sadly.
A similar story turns round a performance (I think) of Schubert's
D.960. I believe it was Mischa Dichter, who was coming up to a major
turning point in the slow movement, when there is a sudden and
unexpected modulation that changes the mood entirely. At just that
point, a beeper went off. Dichter, furious, stalked off the stage and
didn't come back.

[Christopher Hodge]

I remember my choral conducting teacher telling us a story of some famous
conductor who was doing the Bach B-minor Mass. On the very opening of the
Kyrie he gave a huge sweeping gesture, bringing his hands together. In
doing so he managed to stab his left hand with his baton (gives one a
frisson, considering the piece!!). He left the stage and returned later
with a bandaged hand to conduct the piece.

Can anyone verify this "legend" and fill in more details?

Thanks,
........................................
| Christopher Hodge (ho...@acs.bu.edu) |
| -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=--=-=--=- |
|......................................|

[Neil Tingley]

In article <AdoBFJAq...@baram.demon.co.uk>, Leroy Curtis
<Le...@baram.demon.co.uk> writes

This reminds me of a funny one.

When I was working in Edinburgh our theater did a Gavin Bryars concerts,
and topping the bill was his "the Sinking of the Titanic".

This piece started, I was sitting in the circle with the GM. An old
"Jimmy" and his wife started talking - complaining that they thought
they had come to see a film. (A Jimmy in Scots parlance is a harmless
but dim-witted fellow - possibly the worse for a bottle of so of
whisky).

He would not shut up; they just kept on-and-on, grumbling to each other.
"We've no came (sic) to see this shite" ... By this time I was boiling
with rage, and the GM was huffing and puffing - he, the poor lamb, was
too frightened to say anything, so it was left to me to tell them in no
uncertain term to shut their "gubs" (sic). This didn't do the trick so I
had to eject them. It was so funny, them thinking that Bryars was a
historian or something !

We also had 2 couples who looked very normal (C/D social group - bar
lunch on a Sunday after the trip to the DIY store types) who left Carmen
half way through and then had a half-hour argument with my boss over a
ticket refund. The reason - Carmen they found lewd and shocking (sic.)
!!!
( and this in SCOTLAND !!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neil Tingley Furtwaengler FAQ from r.m.c.r contributers at:
ne...@music.demon.co.uk http://www.netlink.co.uk/users/music/ & links to
London, UK G.H Gould and others "more about me" menu.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Neil Tingley]

In article <31F867...@singnet.com.sg>, Chew Kia Khang
<che...@singnet.com.sg> writes
>Richard Landau wrote:
>> ... Neil Tingley has just reminded me of
>> Bean's wonderful Vaughan-Williams Lark Ascending under Boult. I doubt
>> whether anyone will ever do it better. Is it available on CD? ...
>
>It is included in "Greensleeves" [EMI CDZ 7 62527 2], a collection of
>works by English Composers.
>
And the coupling of the EMI LPO recording of the 6th.

[Neil Tingley]

In article <4tgjj5$g6o...@pe.net>, Curtis Croulet <curt...@pe.net>
writes

>Could somebody please explain that this back trouble was? I've read that he
>had some sort of operation in the late 70s that left him much worse off than
>before. What was the original problem? What got messed up in the operation?

A Skiing accident wasn't it ?

[James Pann]

May I ask who is the originator of this interesting thread.

Would you please kindly make a compilation of it? I think a lot of
people like me would like to save it.

Regards,

James Y. Pann

"It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning".
Colin Powell

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Reportedly something like this happened to the Uruguayan conductor Jose
Serebrier when he was conducting in South America. I've heard that he
was conducting on Good Friday and that the work in question was related
to the day by religious theme, but those could have been "decorations"
to the story. In any event he is said to have put his baton quite
through his hand -- but no permanent damage was done and his hand has
since healed completely. (Whew!)

One story I have on good authority (Laszlo Varga, then principal cellist
of the New York Philharmonic, and years later, my conducting teacher at
San Francisco State University) was that Guido Cantelli "pinked" himself
in the left palm with his baton with a rehearsal. Cantelli (who Varga
told me was generally high-strung to begin with) stopped conducting,
looked at his hand and saw that he had drawn blood, and fainted dead
away on the podium! His wife Iris, sitting in the hall, quite calmly
brought out a bottle of wine, uncorked it, and *as if this were an
everyday occurrence* waved the cork under the conductor's nose until he
revived!

--
Matthew B. Tepper * Management and IS Consultant
Positive Support Review Inc. * tep...@psrinc.com
World Wide Web site: http://www.psrinc.com/psr.htm
PSR's 1996 IS Compensation Study is now available!

[LAMBSETOTS]

I have, as a member of the Cincinnati Symphony and other orchestras, had
some interesting experiences. So far, I've seen three concerts where an
audience member had a heart attack. Two of them died. Once, before my
time, one of our percussionists died in his chair during a concert. He was
seated way off in the corner, almost in the wings, so nobody noticed until
the concert was over and the musicians were dispersing.
On another occasion we were doing Strauss' Death and Transfiguration with
Gielen, and had just reached that point in the music where the piece's
protagonist's soul slips off into eternity, whereupon some physicians
beeper went off. "Too late!" blared out the conductor.
One of the most amazing occurrences I've ever seen took place when I was
in the NC Symphony and we were on tour somewhere near the coast, playing
the last movement of Scheherezade. Just after the shipwreck, when the
piece begins to wind down, all the lights went off, and stayed off.
Somehow we finished the piece in the dark, fermatas and all (we never
looked at the conductor when the lights were on, anyway). This was the
last piece before intermission. It became clear that we were not going to
get the lights back on, so many from the audience went to their cars, got
flashlights, and stood behind us, illuminating the music so that we could
finish the concert.
Jim

[Richard Schultz]

Mike Quigley (Mr_Gi...@mindlink.net) wrote:
: How about concerts with overactive page-turners?

: About 25 years ago I was at a concert at Simon Fraser University where

: Yvonne Loriod was playing a piece by Olivier Messiaen (the two of them were
: giving a concert which included Visions de l'Amen) ... the page-turner got
: totally lost and turned the page well ahead of where Mrs. Messiaen was
: playing. She quickly turned the page back and gave the guy a very dirty
: look!

I know that there are several stories of this nature about Beethoven's
performances. He premiered one of his concertos before he had finished
copying the score, so the page-turner had to more or less guess when the
page turns occurred! It might have been the same performance where the
page-turner had to jump back and forth between turning pages and ripping
out the piano strings Beethoven was breaking (which according to the
story caused Beethoven great amusement).

-----
Richard Schultz sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry tel: 972-3-531-8065
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel fax: 972-3-535-1250
-----

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either
charming or tedious."

[Robert Long]

On Sat, 27 Jul 1996 17:03:37 GMT, Mr_Gi...@mindlink.net (Mike
Quigley) wrote:

|How about concerts with overactive page-turners?

I've been dithering about telling this, but as long as I don't use
names...

Years ago, a tenor friend who was still a student was approached by a
pianist friend of his who had a mental block about playing in public
without a score. Sans score, he always forgot the music; when he
brought the score on-stage with him, he never had to look at it. He
would be playing a Bach concert with a certain cellist, and would my
tenor friend consent to turn pages? Of course--no problem!

During rehearsals, it turned out that the cellist had a particularly
awkward page turn during one of the accompanied cello sonatas.
Perhaps, the pianist suggested, the tenor would agree to move from the
piano to the cello, turn that page (which occurred when no page turn
was needed in the piano part) and return to the piano. Fine!

The cellist, I must remark, was one of those very active
instrumentalists who saw away as though in mortal combat with the
music--tossing his head, wagging it from side to side, heaving his
shoulders back and forth, and so on. The pianist was quite the
reverse: a quiet, dignified fellow who expended no energy on anything
but the music.

The night of the performance, I was in the audience. Following a page
turn, I saw the pianist nod calmly to the tenor, indicating that he
should attend upon the cellist until the latter's crucial page turn
was past.

The tenor walked across the stage (the two performers were, in fact,
unusually widely separated) and did a perceptible double-take when he
saw the cello part: a whole page of arpeggios, up and down. Unlike
the vocal music he was used to, there were no words or even a melody
to give him a clue as to which measure the cellist was playing. And
unlike the pianist's calm nods when a page turn was due, the cellist's
head was wildly thrashing about, beggaring any nod that might be
intended as a cue. Trying desperately to discern where the cellist
was on the page, the tenor tentatively extended his hand toward the
score.

"NO! NO!" shouted the cellist, altogether drowning the music for a
moment. The tenor jumped back, his face reddening. For some minutes
he stood in utter confusion, still peering over the cellist's shoulder
and struggling to figure out which measure the cellist was playing,
but loathe to risk another outburst by reaching too soon.

"NOW! NOW!" screamed the cellist at length. The tenor flung himself
at the music, flipping it over so violently he almost upset the music
stand, which he hastily steadied, then dashed back to the piano and
cowered in its shadow for the remainder of the piece.

The pianist later apologized to the tenor for having put him in so
awkward a situation without adequate rehearsal. But before many
months had passed, the tenor gave up his expected career and became a
talent manager for other performers with more stomach for the concert
platform.

[James C Liu]

>Christopher Hodge wrote:
>>
>> I remember my choral conducting teacher telling us a story of some
>> famous conductor who was doing the Bach B-minor Mass. On the very
>> opening of the Kyrie he gave a huge sweeping gesture, bringing his
>> hands together. In doing so he managed to stab his left hand with his
>> baton (gives one a frisson, considering the piece!!). He left the
>> stage and returned later with a bandaged hand to conduct the piece.

Come to think of it, this reminds me of the story of Jean-Baptiste Lully,
who impaled his foot with his conductor's baton (more of a staff in those
times than a baton), had the foot go gangrenous, and died as a result.
The ultimate disastrous concert experience, I guess.

so "Matthew B. Tepper" <tep...@psrinc.com> added:

>Reportedly something like this happened to the Uruguayan conductor Jose
>Serebrier when he was conducting in South America. I've heard that he
>was conducting on Good Friday and that the work in question was related
>to the day by religious theme, but those could have been "decorations"
>to the story. In any event he is said to have put his baton quite
>through his hand -- but no permanent damage was done and his hand has
>since healed completely. (Whew!)

>One story I have on good authority (Laszlo Varga, then principal cellist
>of the New York Philharmonic, and years later, my conducting teacher at
>San Francisco State University) was that Guido Cantelli "pinked" himself
>in the left palm with his baton with a rehearsal. Cantelli (who Varga
>told me was generally high-strung to begin with) stopped conducting,
>looked at his hand and saw that he had drawn blood, and fainted dead
>away on the podium! His wife Iris, sitting in the hall, quite calmly
>brought out a bottle of wine, uncorked it, and *as if this were an
>everyday occurrence* waved the cork under the conductor's nose until he
>revived!

>--
>Matthew B. Tepper * Management and IS Consultant
>Positive Support Review Inc. * tep...@psrinc.com
>World Wide Web site: http://www.psrinc.com/psr.htm
>PSR's 1996 IS Compensation Study is now available!

--

[Chia Han-Leon]

: So my father was forced to play his big bass solo using only the 2 bottom
: strings of the bass!

: Let's see a violin virtuoso do that.

I read somewhere that Paganini would *deliberately* sever the strings on
his own violin, in the middle of his own performances, just so to show
off his skills!

Leon

[LAMBSETOTS]

Dear Disaster Seekers,
At the request of Brendan Wehrung, I am providing a second installment of
tales regarding my experiences as a musician in the Cincinnati Symphony.
Before my time, when the orchestra was on a tour, we had completed the
final piece on the program. The tuba player, who was situated near the
wings and practically offstage, slipped carefully out of sight and began
changing into his street clothes, not wishing to waste a moment of his
spare time. Imagine his dismay when, half-clad, he heard the orchestra
start playing the Lohengrin Act III prelude! As there was no time for him
to change before making his entrance, he poked the bell of the tuba out
through the curtains and played the piece.
We do a number of outdoor concerts during the summer and the forces of
nature we have to contend with are considerable. Probably the worst things
to deal with are insects. The stories of insect invasion are numerous, but
suffice it to say that I've had one fly up my nose, and on another
occasion, during "Venus" from "The Planets", one flew into my eye,
requiring a couple minutes of intricate manouvering on my part to
extricate it.
Earlier this summer, during an indoor concert, part of a light fell and
landed on the first horn's instrument, denting the bell. It would surely
have dented his head had it been a couple of inches over.
Some years ago when I was in another orchestra, we were playing an
out-of-town concert in an auditorium with a corrugated tin roof. During
the slow movement of the Rachmaninoff 2nd Piano Concerto, a terriffic
hailstorm came up. Can you believe it? I mean, we could hear nothing but
the storm as we followed the conductor through the movement. Then,
suddenly, commotion in the back of the orchestra. Seems that water had
begun seeping through the back door and was running across the stage in a
river. People were diving for cases, mutes, purses, anything they had left
on the floor. I don't know whether any of the music was interrupted
because I could'nt hear it anyway.
Rehearsals are not immune to mishaps, either. One summer Music Hall in
Cincinnati was undergoing the installment of a new expensive state of the
art fire alarm system. I've lost count of the number of rehearsals that
were interrupted by this wonderful alarm system that summer, all false
alarms. In the succeeding autumn, it went off again 10 minutes before the
start of the concert, forcing everyone out of the house, and delaying the
start of the concert.
I could go on and on about audiences. We need them, to be sure, but I am
not sure whether they can distinguish between us and the TV. They talk,
unwrap candy, cough, walk in and out during the music, etc. I swear
there's somebody out there with a score who waits for the rests so he can
interject the most violent pflegm-dredging cough into the silence. Once,
during the performance of a Mozart violin concerto, as we cut off the 6/4
chord before the cadenza, someone burst into ecstatic applause. And on
another occasion between movements of, I think, a Dvorak symphony, someone
in the audience stood up and loudly proclaimed his rapturous enjoyment of
the music, which would be even greater if everyone would please be quiet!!
After a few seconds of startled murmuring, things did indeed settle down
and we commenced the next movement. Out of the corner of my eye I could
see several security guards converging in the general area of the speaker,
no doubt expecting further disturbance, but alas, they were disappointed.
Hope you enjoy these.
Jim

[E. Kammin]

Leroy Curtis wrote:

>
> I fail to see the point of taking such a small child to a concert. You
> risk spoiling the enjoyment of others,

Most of the people who do so don't seem to care. Either that, or they think
their kids are just so goddam cute that everyone would rather listen to them
than to Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, or whomever.

> and it cannot be much fun for you
> either, since you may have to exit hastily in the middle of a piece.

That is, assuming that they do. Quite often, they just make a few attempts
at silencing the brat (thus adding to the commotion) and carry on as before.

Ed Kammin

[James Pann]

James Pann wrote:
>
> May I ask who is the originator of this interesting thread.
>
> Would you please kindly make a compilation of it? I think a lot of
> people like me would like to save it.

I got an e-mail from Mr.Brendan R. Wehrung saying that he started this thread. He
said that he is using a UNIX-based-freenet which is cumbersome to compile. He ask
me if I would do it instead. So here it is.

James Pann

*******************
From James C.S. Liu <jl...@world.std.com>

***********************************************************************
From sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il (Richard Schultz)

Mike Quigley (Mr_Gi...@mindlink.net) wrote:
: How about concerts with overactive page-turners?

: About 25 years ago I was at a concert at Simon Fraser University where

: Yvonne Loriod was playing a piece by Olivier Messiaen (the two of them were
: giving a concert which included Visions de l'Amen) ... the page-turner got
: totally lost and turned the page well ahead of where Mrs. Messiaen was
: playing. She quickly turned the page back and gave the guy a very dirty
: look!

I know that there are several stories of this nature about Beethoven's
performances. He premiered one of his concertos before he had finished
copying the score, so the page-turner had to more or less guess when the
page turns occurred! It might have been the same performance where the
page-turner had to jump back and forth between turning pages and ripping
out the piano strings Beethoven was breaking (which according to the
story caused Beethoven great amusement).

**************
From lambs...@aol.com (LAMBSETOTS)

*********
From "Matthew B. Tepper" <tep...@psrinc.com>

Christopher Hodge wrote:
>
> I remember my choral conducting teacher telling us a story of some
> famous conductor who was doing the Bach B-minor Mass. On the very
> opening of the Kyrie he gave a huge sweeping gesture, bringing his
> hands together. In doing so he managed to stab his left hand with his
> baton (gives one a frisson, considering the piece!!). He left the
> stage and returned later with a bandaged hand to conduct the piece.
>

> Can anyone verify this "legend" and fill in more details?
>

Reportedly something like this happened to the Uruguayan conductor Jose

Serebrier when he was conducting in South America. I've heard that he
was conducting on Good Friday and that the work in question was related
to the day by religious theme, but those could have been "decorations"
to the story. In any event he is said to have put his baton quite
through his hand -- but no permanent damage was done and his hand has
since healed completely. (Whew!)

One story I have on good authority (Laszlo Varga, then principal cellist
of the New York Philharmonic, and years later, my conducting teacher at
San Francisco State University) was that Guido Cantelli "pinked" himself
in the left palm with his baton with a rehearsal. Cantelli (who Varga
told me was generally high-strung to begin with) stopped conducting,
looked at his hand and saw that he had drawn blood, and fainted dead
away on the podium! His wife Iris, sitting in the hall, quite calmly
brought out a bottle of wine, uncorked it, and *as if this were an
everyday occurrence* waved the cork under the conductor's nose until he
revived!

**********
From jl...@world.std.com (James C Liu)

sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il (Richard Schultz) writes:

>I wasn't there, but I did go to a SFSO performance of the Verdi Requiem
>in which during one of the big dramatic pauses, somebody's beeper went
>off (what incredible timing). You could see from the look on Blomstedt's
>face that he heard it. If it had been me, I would have turned around
>and said "this concert is not going to continue until whoever did that
>leaves," but I guess that Blomstedt figured the best thing to do would be
>to let well enough alone.

Beepers and digital watches go off mid-concert all the time, sadly.
A similar story turns round a performance (I think) of Schubert's
D.960. I believe it was Mischa Dichter, who was coming up to a major
turning point in the slow movement, when there is a sudden and
unexpected modulation that changes the mood entirely. At just that
point, a beeper went off. Dichter, furious, stalked off the stage and
didn't come back.

**************
From jl...@world.std.com (James C Liu)

Allan Burns <AD...@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:

>In article <Dv3ys...@world.std.com>, jl...@world.std.com (James C Liu) says:

>>My source is Harold Schonberg, _The Great Pianists_. There are also a
>>few stories of musicians dying in the midst of a performance. I don't
>>recall any particularly good examples.

>Simon Barere died at Carnegie Hall while playing the Grieg Concerto.

Hmm. One misstatement and ...

What I meant to say was that I couldn't remember specifics on any
particularly juicy examples. I recall vague details, e.g., major part
in a tragic opera, and just at the moment of death, the singer adds a
major dose of realism to the characterization, but can't recall
anything more specific than that.

Of course, I am a singer, so my thoughts on dead musicians are
another thing entirely. =8^)

***************
From ho...@bu.edu (Christopher Hodge)

I remember my choral conducting teacher telling us a story of some famous
conductor who was doing the Bach B-minor Mass. On the very opening of the
Kyrie he gave a huge sweeping gesture, bringing his hands together. In
doing so he managed to stab his left hand with his baton (gives one a
frisson, considering the piece!!). He left the stage and returned later
with a bandaged hand to conduct the piece.

Can anyone verify this "legend" and fill in more details?

***************
From sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il (Richard Schultz)

Matthew B. Tepper (du...@deltanet.com) wrote:

: The ultimate such occasion
: that I know of was a few years ago when Midori was playing Bernstein's
: "Serenade" with the composer, and broke a string; she exchanged fiddles
: with the concertmaster immediately, and resumed playing. Then, she
: broke yet another string on *that* violin, and had to exchange
: instruments with the assistant concertmaster! The incident made the
: newspapers and may have helped get her her "big break," which makes one
: wonder if perhaps it was planned....

Supposedly, Paganini deliberately put weak strings on his violin so he
could impress everyone when one broke, and he continued on three strings;
then the second broke and he continued on two strings; then the third
broke, leaving him just with the G string (the violin kind, I mean,
although I suppose the performance would have been equally interesting
if for a different reason with the other kind) with which he would finish
the piece.

*************
From curt...@pe.net (Curtis Croulet)

>About 25 years ago I was at a concert at Simon Fraser University where
>Yvonne Loriod was playing a piece by Olivier Messiaen (the two of them were
>giving a concert which included Visions de l'Amen) ... the page-turner got
>totally lost and turned the page well ahead of where Mrs. Messiaen was
>playing. She quickly turned the page back and gave the guy a very dirty
>look!
>

Well, I remember a San Diego Symphony concert where John Ogdon was soloist in

-- I think -- a piano concerto by Yardumian. The page turner evidently got
lost, and Ogdon waved her aside and did the page-turning himself.

***********
From Pierre Paquin at Sound Dynamics Associates <ppa...@capecod.net>

**************
From sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il (Richard Schultz)

Naun Chew (Naun...@lib.monash.edu.au) wrote:

: At a performance of Mahler's Third Symphony in Vienna, a member of the
: chorus fainted during the last movement and had to be carried out as the
: orchestra did its best to continue playing. I seem to recall that one of
: the cellists laid down his instrument and helped.

When I was in high school, I was a participant in one of those "Regional
Choir Festival" things, with a chorus of around 250 culled from high
schools in the region. We did a selection of all sorts of stuff, one
piece of which was the "Lachrymosa" movement from the Mozart Requiem.
During the performance, somebody fell off the risers, so on the
recording there's a sudden "Thud" followed by a significantly more tentative
sounding chorus.

***********
From sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il (Richard Schultz)

Gabriel Kuper (ku...@chaos.inria.fr) wrote:

: I'm surprised that nobody else here was in San
: Francisco in 1985 at the concert that probably tops them all...

I wasn't there, but I did go to a SFSO performance of the Verdi Requiem

in which during one of the big dramatic pauses, somebody's beeper went
off (what incredible timing). You could see from the look on Blomstedt's
face that he heard it. If it had been me, I would have turned around
and said "this concert is not going to continue until whoever did that
leaves," but I guess that Blomstedt figured the best thing to do would be
to let well enough alone.

***************
From vod...@aol.com (Vodnik)

***************
From mal...@best.com (Michelle Dulak)

Ed Kammin writes:

>I recall a near-disaster at a concert quite a few years ago, in which Bruno
>Walter was conducting the Mahler 4th with the New York Phil.-Sym. The
>orchestra's concertmaster at the time, John Corigliano (father of the
>composer), was playing the violin solo in the second movement, when one of
>his strings snapped.

>In a fraction of a second, as if they had been rehearsing it for hours,
>Corigliano and the assistant concertmaster next to him swapped violins.
>Corigliano then continued his solo (having hardly missed a beat), while the
>assitant concertmaster changed the broken string.

Considering that the solo in Mahler 4 is written for a violin in
non-standard tuning (and notated in a different key than it sounds),
that's a pretty impressive "save."

***************
From Mr_Gi...@mindlink.net (Mike Quigley)

How about concerts with overactive page-turners?

About 25 years ago I was at a concert at Simon Fraser University where

Yvonne Loriod was playing a piece by Olivier Messiaen (the two of them were
giving a concert which included Visions de l'Amen) ... the page-turner got
totally lost and turned the page well ahead of where Mrs. Messiaen was
playing. She quickly turned the page back and gave the guy a very dirty
look!

**************
From bob...@taconic.net (Robert Long)

*************
From "Matthew B. Tepper" <du...@deltanet.com>

E. Kammin wrote:
>
> an...@detroit.freenet.org wrote:
> >
> > Its quite clear that readers of this group have wide and varied
> > concert-going experience. Would any be willing to share their
> > most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which
> > something went disasterously wrong?
>
> I recall a near-disaster at a concert quite a few years ago, in which
> Bruno Walter was conducting the Mahler 4th with the New York Phil.-Sym.
> The orchestra's concertmaster at the time, John Corigliano (father of
> the composer), was playing the violin solo in the second movement, when
> one of his strings snapped.
>
> In a fraction of a second, as if they had been rehearsing it for hours,
> Corigliano and the assistant concertmaster next to him swapped violins.
> Corigliano then continued his solo (having hardly missed a beat), while
> the assitant concertmaster changed the broken string.
>
> Ed Kammin

Believe it or not, I understand this is "standard practice" when a solo
violinist breaks a string in performance. The ultimate such occasion

that I know of was a few years ago when Midori was playing Bernstein's
"Serenade" with the composer, and broke a string; she exchanged fiddles
with the concertmaster immediately, and resumed playing. Then, she
broke yet another string on *that* violin, and had to exchange
instruments with the assistant concertmaster! The incident made the
newspapers and may have helped get her her "big break," which makes one
wonder if perhaps it was planned....

************
From "Matthew B. Tepper" <du...@deltanet.com>

James Pann wrote:
>
> Richard Schultz wrote:
> >
> >... Since everyone else in the hall was giving it a
> > standing ovation ....
> >
>
> About 15 years (?) ago, I was at a concert at Oakland's Paramont
> Theater where the aging Yehudi Menuhin was the soloist for Elgar's
> violin concerto; it was sad to see that almost all down-bow was jumping
> (sorry, I wonder if I used the right word) and the notes were so out of
> pitch which made me wanted to cover my ears. Almost everyone in the
> theater was giving him a standing ovation except me. I just sat there.
> An old lady standing next to me gave me several (not one) scolding
> look, thinking I did not appreciate the performance. What could I
> say....

A couple of decades ago, I received some free tickets to hear my very
favorite violinist, Kyung-Wha Chung, play the Vieuxtemps Concerto #5
with the Oakland Symphony (also at the Paramount Theater!).
Unfortunately, Ms. Chung became ill and had to cancel. In her place
they found a young American violinist who played the Sibelius Concerto
(one of my favorite such works). He swooped and swerved, pulling the
music out of place like taffy. I would have walked out if I hadn't been
with a friend whom I didn't want to embarrass.

The next year, this blitheringly incompetent American shared the bronze
medal (no gold or silver were given) in the Tchaikovsky Competition.
His name was Eugene Fodor. That great bastion of musical taste, _Time_
was spurred by Fodor's publicist to refer to him as "the top
prize-winner" of the competition, which may be technically true but
still a damnfool lie.
Fodor has had his problems on and off with cocaine addiction over the
years, making me wonder if perhaps he went into the "wrong" kind of
music....

************
From Edward Givelberg <give...@cims.nyu.edu>

James C Liu wrote:
>
There are also a few stories of musicians dying in the midst of a >performance.
I don't
> recall any particularly good examples.

That's a great statement.

**************
From ckr...@ais.net (Chuck Ross)

In article <31F8E6...@frontiernet.net>, "E. Kammin" <eka...@frontiernet.net>
wrote:

> I recall a near-disaster at a concert quite a few years ago, in which Bruno
> Walter was conducting the Mahler 4th with the New York Phil.-Sym. The
> orchestra's concertmaster at the time, John Corigliano (father of the
> composer), was playing the violin solo in the second movement, when one of
> his strings snapped.
>
> In a fraction of a second, as if they had been rehearsing it for hours,
> Corigliano and the assistant concertmaster next to him swapped violins.
> Corigliano then continued his solo (having hardly missed a beat), while the
> assitant concertmaster changed the broken string.
>
> Ed Kammin

Corigliano is no match for Heifetz.

I was present at a Heifetz recital when a string broke.

The great violinist stopped playing, reached into his pocket, pulled
out a new string, opened the package, removed the broken string from
the fiddle, replaced it with the new one, tuned up for a couple of
seconds, then began the piece again.

The audience was deathly still during this.

I wish I could have said he continued the piece on the other three
strings like Tartini (I think) did, but it didn't happen.

**************
From aeis...@minerva.cis.yale.edu (Ahmed E. Ismail)

Chase Kimball (ch...@aros.net) wrote:
: In article <4ssarm$e...@lex.zippo.com>, an...@detroit.freenet.org says...
: >
: >Its quite clear that readers of this group have wide and varied
: >concert-going experience. Would any be willing to share their
: >most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which
: >something went disasterously wrong? Perhaps the conductor had to
: >fight the orchestra through to the end of the music, or maybe
: >it merely started raining--these things do happen and can be
: >quite amusing, in retorspect (although I doubt the performers
: >or audience thought so at the time!). Opera has its bouncing
: >Toscas; let's give orchestra-goers equal time.
: >Brendan Wehrung

Well, I *almost* witnessed quite a mess-up, but it was semi-averted, as
it were.

The scene wa the third weekend in April in New Haven, CT, where the Yale
Glee Club, Symphony Orchestra, and New Haven Chorale were dress-rehearsing
under Robert Shaw for the 50th anniversary performance of Hindemith's
"When lilacs . . . ."

The disaster occurred only in Movement No. 10, when the 'offstage bugle'
must enter unaccompanied with the "Taps" melody. That portion of the piece
was rehearsed *five* times, and every time the bugler came in a full
measure early. The only way the problem was prevented in the concert,
*the next evening*, was for Maestro Shaw to cue the bugler--an act which
totally distracts from the significance of it. [Not to mention the fact
that after the concert, someone claimed that Movement 11 was wholly
unnecessary!]

But then that doesn't even compare to the personal embarrassment when I
nearly fell from the second riser during a choir competition. . .

*********** END of PART 1 **********

[E. Kammin]

Matthew B. Tepper wrote:

> Reportedly something like this happened to the Uruguayan conductor Jose

> Serebrier when he was conducting in South America. [ . . .] In any event

> he is said to have put his baton quite
> through his hand -- but no permanent damage was done and his hand has
> since healed completely. (Whew!)

This reminds me a story I once read concerning Pablo Casals. He was mountain
climbing, when a rock fell on one of his hands, injuring it. Casals later
said that his first reaction was "Thank God I won't have to play that 'cello
any more!" (Here, too, no permanent damage was done.)

Ed Kammin

[Mike Quigley]

ho...@bu.edu (Christopher Hodge) wrote:

>I remember my choral conducting teacher telling us a story of some famous
>conductor who was doing the Bach B-minor Mass. On the very opening of the
>Kyrie he gave a huge sweeping gesture, bringing his hands together. In
>doing so he managed to stab his left hand with his baton (gives one a
>frisson, considering the piece!!). He left the stage and returned later
>with a bandaged hand to conduct the piece.
>
> Can anyone verify this "legend" and fill in more details?

I remember reading that some conductor (Jose Serebrier?) had stabbed
himself in such a manner...

[Robert Long]

On 27 Jul 1996 00:30:08 GMT, Mark Perlman <id...@asuvm.inre.asu.edu>
wrote:

|There are many stories of violin soloists breakign strings and borrowing

My wife is a singer, but in her youth she also played the violin. For
one major occasion in high school, the orchestra discovered it had no
cellos to play the national anthem, and she was persuaded to learn the
cello part of that one piece lest the solemnity of the occasion by
undercut for want of an adequate bass line.

In the event, the conductor had just raised his baton when the
tailpiece of the borrowed cello gave way, the cello strings flew up in
the air and then draped themselves across her shoulder, and the bridge
flew out into the audience as though shot from a bow. Needless to
say, the national anthem proceeded sans cello. My wife's career in
that instrument had ended before it began..

[Kischmir]

There's been quite a bit of child bashing in this thread -- damn the
people for taking small children to concerts and spoiling the aesthetic
pleasure of the cogniscenti! I fully agree that babies, tots and
undisciplined children should be kept away, but I think it's important for
parents and other relatives to bring small children to concerts if they
are disciplined enough and "ready" AND PREPARED for the experience. How
else are you going to get the audience of the next generation if not by
introducing them to the joys of live music making - and "classical" to
boot? Better an occasional unruly child than none at all.

I'm much less bothered by a child's whispered question requesting
information during a performance -- a clear sign of involvement and
excitement -- than by those precious esthetes for whom a solitary cough in
the wrong place can ruin a whole evening.

My heart leaps up when I see young children at concerts, their faces aglow
with the excitement of such a special event and I mentally thank the
parents or grandparents for making the investment in their cultural
education.

My vision of "most disastrous concert experience" is looking around and
realizing there are only geriatrics around me and wondering where will the
audience be in 2001? Go see Ingmar Bergman's Magic Flute video and watch
the audience shots during the overture. The rapt expression on the little
girl is what experiencing music is all about - and we must pass that
experience on. How else can our traditions continue? A little less
self-centeredness please.

Ericoz

[jat...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca]

Kischmir (kisc...@aol.com) wrote:
: There's been quite a bit of child bashing in this thread -- damn the

: people for taking small children to concerts and spoiling the aesthetic
: pleasure of the cogniscenti! I fully agree that babies, tots and
: undisciplined children should be kept away, but I think it's important for
: parents and other relatives to bring small children to concerts if they
: are disciplined enough and "ready" AND PREPARED for the experience. How
: else are you going to get the audience of the next generation if not by
: introducing them to the joys of live music making - and "classical" to
: boot? Better an occasional unruly child than none at all.

: I'm much less bothered by a child's whispered question requesting
: information during a performance -- a clear sign of involvement and
: excitement -- than by those precious esthetes for whom a solitary cough in
: the wrong place can ruin a whole evening.

<snip>

It also depends upon the audience as well as the performer/composition.
Last September, I attended Cecilia Bartoli's recital here in Edmonton.
In my recollection, I have never seen/heard such a disciplined audience.
When she was singing, I don't remember hearing too many coughs or
sniffles. Clearly in this case, the audience consisted largely of the
"converted" who came not so much to be seen but to enjoy the performance
of an artist.

By the way, I believe that a number of younger children were in
attendance. Lucky them!

--
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bernhard Michael Jatzeck email: jat...@fn1.freenet.edmonton.ab.ca *
* *
*******************************************************************************

[Leroy Curtis]

In article <4uinr9$l...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, Kischmir
<kisc...@aol.com> writes

>There's been quite a bit of child bashing in this thread -- damn the
>people for taking small children to concerts and spoiling the aesthetic
>pleasure of the cogniscenti! I fully agree that babies, tots and
>undisciplined children should be kept away, but I think it's important for
>parents and other relatives to bring small children to concerts if they
>are disciplined enough and "ready" AND PREPARED for the experience. How
>else are you going to get the audience of the next generation if not by
>introducing them to the joys of live music making - and "classical" to
>boot? Better an occasional unruly child than none at all.
>
>I'm much less bothered by a child's whispered question requesting
>information during a performance -- a clear sign of involvement and
>excitement -- than by those precious esthetes for whom a solitary cough in
>the wrong place can ruin a whole evening.
>

>My heart leaps up when I see young children at concerts, their faces aglow
>with the excitement of such a special event and I mentally thank the
>parents or grandparents for making the investment in their cultural
>education.
>
>My vision of "most disastrous concert experience" is looking around and
>realizing there are only geriatrics around me and wondering where will the
>audience be in 2001? Go see Ingmar Bergman's Magic Flute video and watch
>the audience shots during the overture. The rapt expression on the little
>girl is what experiencing music is all about - and we must pass that
>experience on. How else can our traditions continue? A little less
>self-centeredness please.
>

I'm sure many people will agree with these sentiments. If younger people
are not taken to concerts, classical music will surely die. What I
objected to was the fact that someone should bring a baby, obviously
less than a year old, in a carry-chair, which wakes up and starts
bawling in the middle of a piece. At UKL60 for two seats, I think I'm
entitled to hear the piece all the way through without that.

I too rejoice when I see younger people enjoying a classical concert.
But I think they should be old enough to know they are at a classical
concert before they are actually taken to one :-)

Regards
--
Leroy Curtis

[William H. Pittman]

On the general subject of disastrous concerts, I remember a performance of
the Verdi Requiem in the early 1960's in Constitution Hall in Washington,
by the National Symphony and assisting artists. The tenor was James
McCracken, I think. His voice cracked (very appropriate?) in the "Hostias"
and he sang the rest of the performance pianissimo, in a lower octave.
What a mess!

William H. Pittman

[Elmo Peeler]

My most disastrous concert experience was when I wanted to share with my
sweetheart a Van Cliburn concert. After all his years in retirement, Cliburn
was to perform at the Hollywood Bowl, playing no less than the two concerti
he's most identified with: the Tschaikovsky 1st and the Rachmoninov 3rd!

Not only did he give an inconsistent performance of the Tschaikovsky 1st, he
refused to even try the Rach 3rd, saying he felt ill (but not too ill for a
string of "encores")! Moreover, his entire "comeback tour of 1994" went the
SAME way. In town after town, Cliburn simply offered some lame excuse for
not performing it "that night", when in fact he never played the Rach 3rd
in any city! False advertising in the extreme.

At the Hollywood Bowl he just substituted some short, solo piano pieces, as
the orchestra and the audience looked at each other quizzically.

In my youth I'd seen Cliburn give great performances of the Barber Piano
Sonata, the Rach 2nd, and a number of others; he was a great inspiration.
His recording of the Rach 3rd, with the stupendous "more difficult" cadenza
is a classic. How difficult it was to have to explain to my disappointed
sweetheart that, yes, once Van Cliburn had been among the greats. Something
terrible must have happened.

Sadly,

Elmo

P.S. Where there's life there's hope; and I certainly hope that Mr. Cliburn
is able to refurbish his formerly high level of piano artistry. I'd like to
be able to write the opposite of this after his next "comeback tour".

[Matthew B. Tepper]

I think that "what happened" was that his beloved mother (who had also
been his first piano teacher) had fallen gravely ill before the tour. I
believe she did die some weeks later.
--
"Robert A. Heinlein -- An incontestably great science fiction writer,
whose social philosophies were as nearly as ludicrous as his politics
were loathsome." -- from _The Tepper's Dictionary_, work in progress
Matthew B. Tepper http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm Quack!

[Kischmir]

Following is a story that has become a classic. I saw it many, many years
ago in a magazine and most recently it emerged in a compendium of funny
stuff in the classical music newsgroup. I am happy to repost it for new
members of this news group and would have given anything to have been in
the audience that night. Does anyone have definitive documentation of its
actually having taken place?

Ericoz

From: tsco...@well.sf.ca.us (Thomas Scoville)
Date: 4 Aug 91 07:59:45 GMT

This review, by Kenneth Langbell, appeared in the English language Bangkok
Post. It was made available by Martin Canin, piano faculty of the Julliard
School.

"A Humid Recital Stirs Bangkok"

The recital last evening in the chamber music room of the Erewan Hotel by
US pianist Myron Kropp, the first appearance of Mr. Kropp in Bangkok, can
only be described by this reviewer and those who witnessed Mr. Kropp's
performance as one of the most interesting experiences in a long time.

A hush fell over the room as Mr. Kropp appeared from the right of the
stage, attired in black formal evening-wear with a small white poppy in
his lapel. With sparse, sandy hair, a sallow complexion and a deceptively
frail looking frame, the man who has repopularized Johann Sebastian Bach
approached the Baldwin Concert Grand, bowed to the audience, and placed
himself upon the stool.

As I have mentioned on several other occasions, the Baldwin Concert Grand,
while basically a fine instrument, needs constant attention, particularly
in a climate such as Bangkok. This is even more true when the instrument
is as old as the piano provided in the chamber music room of the Erewan
Hotel. In this humidity the felts which separate the white keys from the
black tend to swell, causing an occasional key to stick, which was
apparently the case last evening with the D in the second octave.
During the "raging storm" section of the D-minor Tocatta and Fugue, Mr.
Kropp must be complimented for putting up with the awkward D. However, by
the time the storm was past and he had gotten into the Prelude and Fugue
in D-major, in which second octave D plays a major role, Mr. Kropp's
patience was wearing thin.

Some who attended the performance later questioned whether the awkward key
justified some of the language which was heard coming from the stage
during softer passages of the fugue. However, one member of the audience,
who had sent his children out of the room by the mid-way point of the
fugue, had a valid point when he commented over the music and
extemporaneous remoarks of Mr. Kropp that the workman who greased the
stool might have done better to use some grease on the second octave D.
Indeed, Mr. Kropp's stool had more than enough grease, and during one
passage in which the music and lyrics were both particularly violent, Mr.
Kropp was turned completely around. Whereas before his remarks had been
aimed largely at the piano and were therefore somewhat muted, to his
surprise and that of those in the room he found himself addressing
directly to the audience.

But such things do happen, and the person who began to laugh deserves to
be severely reprimanded for this undignified behavior. Unfortunately,
laughter is contagious, and by the time it had subsided and the audience
had regained its composure, Mr. Kropp appeared to be somewhat shaken.
Nevertheless he swiveled himself back into position and, leaving the
D-major Fugue unfinished, commenced on the Fastasia and Fugue in G-minor.

Why the concert grand piano's G key in the third octave chose that
particular time to begin sticking, I hesitate to guess. However, it is
certainly safe to say that Mr. Kropp did not help matters when he began
using his feet to kick the lower portion of the piano instead of operating
the pedals as is usually done.

Possibly it was this jarring, or the un-Bach-like hammering to which the
sticking keyboard was being subjected. Something caused the right front
leg of the piano to buckle slightly inward, leaving the entire instrument
listing at a 35-degree angle from that which is normal. A gasp went up
from the audience, for if the piano had actually fallen, several of Mr.
Kropp's toes, if not both his feet, would surely have been broken.

It was with a sigh of relief, therefore, that the audience saw Mr. Kropp
slowly rise from his stool and leave the stage. A few men in the back of
the room began clapping, and, when Mr. Kropp reappeared a moment later, it
seemed he was responding to the ovation. Apparently, however, he had left
to get the fire-axe which was hung backstage, for that is what he had in
his hand.

My first reaction at seeing Mr. Kropp begin to chop at the left leg of the
piano was that he was attempting to make it tilt at the same angle as the
right leg and thereby correct the list. However, when the weakened legs
finally collapsed altogether with a great crash and Mr. Kropp continued to
chop, it became obvious to all that he had no intention of going on with
the concert.

The ushers, who had heard the snapping of piano wires and splintering of
sounding board from the dining room, came ruching in and with the help of
the hotel manager, two Indian watchmen and a passing police corporal,
finally succeeded in disarming Mr. Kropp and dragging him from the stage.

[Steven Gladstone]

Kischmir wrote:
>
> My first reaction at seeing Mr. Kropp begin to chop at the left leg of the
> piano was that he was attempting to make it tilt at the same angle as the
> right leg and thereby correct the list. However, when the weakened legs
> finally collapsed altogether with a great crash and Mr. Kropp continued to
> chop, it became obvious to all that he had no intention of going on with
> the concert.
>
> The ushers, who had heard the snapping of piano wires and splintering of
> sounding board from the dining room, came ruching in and with the help of
> the hotel manager, two Indian watchmen and a passing police corporal,
> finally succeeded in disarming Mr. Kropp and dragging him from the stage.

THAT'S IT. I'VE NOW READ EVERYTHING. I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING. SIR, YOU HAVE
WON THIS WEEK'S 'EUGENE FODOR WHERE ARE MY DRUGS' AWARD FOR THE MOST AMAZING
STORY. THANK YOU.

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Steven Gladstone wrote:
>
> THAT'S IT. I'VE NOW READ EVERYTHING. I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING. SIR,
> YOU HAVE WON THIS WEEK'S 'EUGENE FODOR WHERE ARE MY DRUGS' AWARD FOR
> THE MOST AMAZING STORY. THANK YOU.

Does that go with the "Iso Briselli Good Sport" award?

[E. Kammin]

Kischmir wrote:
>
> I think it's important for
> parents and other relatives to bring small children to concerts if they
> are disciplined enough and "ready" AND PREPARED for the experience.

Yes, as long as the parents are realistic about their chilren's ability to
sit through the concert without bothering others. What is a delightful
comment from a child to a parent can be just a nuisance to other people.

> How
> else are you going to get the audience of the next generation if not by
> introducing them to the joys of live music making - and "classical" to
> boot?

That's easy - by means of records. My parents gave me a set of "Peter and
the Wolf" when I was quite young. And, I had heard the "Eroica", as an
adolescent, several times on records at home before ever hearing it live.
I was about 15 then, the experience of hearing it in a live concert was still
overwhelming, and I sat through it without moving a muscle.

Ed Kammin

[Anthony Kershaw]

an...@detroit.freenet.org wrote:

>Its quite clear that readers of this group have wide and varied
>concert-going experience. Would any be willing to share their
>most/least memorable event with the rest of us--a concert at which

>something went disasterously wrong? Perhaps the conductor had to
>fight the orchestra through to the end of the music, or maybe
>it merely started raining--these things do happen and can be
>quite amusing, in retorspect (although I doubt the performers
>or audience thought so at the time!). Opera has its bouncing
>Toscas; let's give orchestra-goers equal time.
>Brendan Wehrung

This is an old thread, but thought the readers might "enjoy" this
experience.

While I was studying in London, the college gave out lots of free
concert tickets. One concert was truly infamous.

I think it was 1981. Royal Festival Hall. Moscow Phil conducted by
Dmitri Kitaenko.

Invisible City of Kitzeh(sp) composer ?
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto soloist?
Rachmaninov 2nd Symphony

Jewish groups were politely demonstrating outside.

Inside, the concert started well. But suddenly, and very loudly from
different areas of the hall during a very quiet episide, came shouts
of FREE ANATOL SCHARANSKY. FREE ANATOL SCHARANSKY.

The folks left the hall with security guards pleading with the
shocked audience to leave and not support the dreadful "commies" on
stage. All the while, Kitaenko's left hand rising for the orchestra
to play louder. The audience burst into wild applause.

During the concerto, more interruptions. The poor soloist looked
stunned but kept going. One lady demonstrator chained herself to a box
railing. It took security about five minutes to cut her loose with
huge wire cutters! By this time the audience were totally supportive
of the musicians and were getting angry with the demonstraters. One
man stepped up to the stage,and, what looked like a 400 pound Russian
security guard, came out of the stage door. The demonstrator ran
through the nearest exit. Meanwhile, Kitaenko just kept conducting!
Again the audience cheered. The last demonstrater was in the process
of being thrown out by MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE. A fist fight ensued.
Short but sweet. The demonstrator ran screaming. Very dramatic.
I'm not being flippant, it really was gut-wrenching stuff!

Needless to say, both soloist and orchestra got the biggest ovation
I have ever heard in London. We even stood up! In five years of
concert- going and concertizing in London, I never witnessed a
standing ovation, save for Sir Adrian Boult when he walked on stage to
conduct the LSO at the end of his career..

The Rachmaninov went smoothly and received an equally thunderous
ovation.

Anthony Kershaw

[Daniel Kravetz]

About ten or twelve years ago, Sir Charles Groves was conducting
the London Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Ninth at Barbican
Hall in London on his 70th birthday. After the opening bars of
the final movement, Bass Soloist Donald McIntyre stood up and
sang "Oh, Freu...." than stopped and realized that it was a string
recitative and he wasn't supposed to come in for quite some time.
Very embarrassing for all, and I spent the remainder of the movement
stifling a laugh. McIntyre was not inexperienced--he was the
soloist in the mid-'60s on the great Stokowski recording of the
work and didn't jump the gun there.

[Don Jones]

During a rather violent performance of the Rite of Spring the timpani
player lost both his sticks into the string section and had no spares.
The rest of the piece was played without the timps. Rather dry!
Don in Albuquerque

[Feralhouse]

The worst concert ever seen was at the Hollywood Bowl seeing Isaac Stern
saw away at the Beethoven concerto. Squeak, squeak, squeak. I was wishing
he would stop.

[Arthur L. Shapiro]

I was at an Ivan Moravec recital in Santa Barbara, CA a few years back, when a
member of the audience apparently suffered a heart attack or the like. Mr.
Moravec was trying to play while the paramedics were in the lobby (no doors
between lobby and theater) applying the high-voltage defibrilation paddles to
the poor victim. It somewhat clashed with the music.

I've seen at least one soloist in a piano concerto simply draw a blank and
forget the music, with the conductor having to stop the performance while said
soloist goes offstage to look at the score. Name omitted out of politeness,
as he's long-deceased, anyway.

Art Shapiro

[Matthew B. Tepper]

Arthur L. Shapiro wrote:
>
> I've seen at least one soloist in a piano concerto simply draw a blank
> and forget the music, with the conductor having to stop the performance
> while said soloist goes offstage to look at the score. Name omitted
> out of politeness, as he's long-deceased, anyway.

I believe this notoriously once happened to no less than Artur Schnabel.

--
"I don't care about being politically correct. I just want to be
anatomically correct!" http://www.deltanet.com/~ducky/index.htm
Matthew B. Tepper Web Brainiac and Gonzo Musicologist Quack!

[Mr. Mike]

asha...@po3.mv.unisys.com (Arthur L. Shapiro) writes:

>I was at an Ivan Moravec recital in Santa Barbara, CA a few years back, when a
>member of the audience apparently suffered a heart attack or the like. Mr.
>Moravec was trying to play while the paramedics were in the lobby (no doors
>between lobby and theater) applying the high-voltage defibrilation paddles to
>the poor victim. It somewhat clashed with the music.

Moravec played the Brahms 2nd with the Vancouver Symphony many years
ago, and the piano went out of tune in a major way during the
performance. Very embarrassing! And there was no tuner in the wings
to fix it.

>I've seen at least one soloist in a piano concerto simply draw a blank
and
>forget the music, with the conductor having to stop the performance while said
>soloist goes offstage to look at the score. Name omitted out of politeness,
>as he's long-deceased, anyway.

Canadian pianist Ronald Turini allegedly had this kind of problem playing
with the VSO ... the conductor had to halt the performance and show him
the score!

--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out my home page: http://web20.mindlink.net/a4369 -- The home
of the award-winning Hawaii Five-O Home Page, X-Files stuff and more!

[Richard Kapp]

Can't top yours, but I was in Carnegie Hall as a very young youth when
Paul Paray stepped backward off the raised podium and fell about 8 feet
in front of the first row - I think he was conducting the Franck
Symphony or some such - and he never stopped waving his arms, even as
they picked him up and hoisted him back to the stage.

[Don Patterson]

Richard Kapp wrote:
>
> Anthony Kershaw
>
> Can't top yours, but I was in Carnegie Hall as a very young youth when
> Paul Paray stepped backward off the raised podium and fell about 8 feet
> in front of the first row - I think he was conducting the Franck
> Symphony or some such - and he never stopped waving his arms, even as
> they picked him up and hoisted him back to the stage.

This is more memorable than disastrous.

I was in Jones Hall in Houston, TX in the early 80s when Lenny, conducting the Israel
Phil, took one of acrobatic flying leaps during Tchaikovsky's "Francesca da Rimini".
Whilein mid air, the podium somehow twisted and shifted slightly, and it wasn't in the
right spot when Bernstein landed. He hit the floor (the man was in his sixties). Half
the string players stopped playing. The brass and winds continued as though they
weren't even watching him. After about 10 seconds, the stick came up from the
floor and started conducting again. The concertmaster helped him up, and the piece
continued to its end. They followed up with a wonderful "Petrouschka".

--
Don Patterson <don...@erols.com>
"The President's Own"
United States Marine Band

The views expressed are my own and in no way reflect
those of the U.S. Marine Band or the Marine Corps.

[Sara Freeman]

In <32C41D...@erols.com> Don Patterson <don...@erols.com> writes:

>This is more memorable than disastrous.
>
>I was in Jones Hall in Houston, TX in the early 80s when Lenny,
conducting the Israel
>Phil, took one of acrobatic flying leaps during Tchaikovsky's
"Francesca da Rimini".
>Whilein mid air, the podium somehow twisted and shifted slightly, and
it wasn't in the
>right spot when Bernstein landed. He hit the floor

sometimes you get what you deserve or reap what you sow or whatever . .

(the man was in his sixties).
Half
>the string players stopped playing. The brass and winds continued as
though they
>weren't even watching him. After about 10 seconds, the stick came up
from the
>floor and started conducting again. The concertmaster helped him up,
and the piece
>continued to its end. They followed up with a wonderful
"Petrouschka".
>
>--
>Don Patterson <don...@erols.com>
>"The President's Own"
>United States Marine Band
>
>The views expressed are my own and in no way reflect
>those of the U.S. Marine Band or the Marine Corps.

--
"If you think of reality as the software for the universe,
all it would take is for someone to change a comma in the
program, and the chair you are sitting on wouldn't be a
chair at all."--Jacques Vallee

[Kenneth Ho]

We were in Hong Kong Cultural Centre listening to National sym of Ireland
playing Tchaikovsky's #6;

towards the end of fourth movement one audience clap his hand BEFORE THE
LAST NOTE, (needless to say the long rests), like a metronome.

'pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap pap ...' he clapped alone for sometime
like 30 seconds, (while no one followed)... The other listeners represented
some degree of dis-satifaction. It destroyed the mood completely.

Kenneth.

[Brendan R. Wehrung]

This happened at a Bernstein performance I attended. He was sawing away
with the baton held in both hands, intense anguish on his face when...
Sure it was a trick (and the applause drew a dirty look before he went
back to sawing away), but the performance had been marvelous and the final
chords intense--the art of the great conductor has a lot to do with
psychology and if this is how he achieved the mood, so what!

Brendan Wehrung

[Grillades]

I saw something similar with the Israel Philharmonic in Wash, DC. Right
at the end of the Tchaikovsky 5th, when the orchestra pauses, applause
began. It went on for a few seconds before those who were doing so
realized they had made a ghastly mistake. The conductor, Zubin Mehta,
ended the symphony in a perfunctory manner, no doubt quite annoyed.
Needless to say, the mood was shattered.

This concert was later played on NPR's performance, the offending applause
was editted out.

[Richard Schultz]

Grillades (gril...@aol.com) wrote:
: I saw something similar with the Israel Philharmonic in Wash, DC. Right

: at the end of the Tchaikovsky 5th, when the orchestra pauses, applause
: began. It went on for a few seconds before those who were doing so

: realized they had made a ghastly mistake. . . .

"Ghastly mistake" is an understatement. "Committed a capital offense"
is more like it. Don't they wonder (a) why that conductor guy still
has his hands in the air and (b) why Tchaikovsky would end a symphony
in E on a B major chord?

: This concert was later played on NPR's performance, the offending applause
: was editted out.

I once heard a radio broadcast of the Cleveland Symphony under Dohnanyi
doing it, and there was *no* applause at that point. Maybe that was
another example of "creative editing. . ."

In fact, the only performace that I have ever booed was a Utah Symphony
performance of Tchaikovsky's 5th in which Joseph Silverstein got around
the problem of "inappropriate audience applause" by *ignoring the pause
altogether*! That is, he went straight from the long held note to the
coda. I think I gave some sort of involuntary exclamation at that
point (whoops, sorry, I know that's rude, but boy was I provoked).

-----
Richard Schultz sch...@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il
Department of Chemistry tel: 972-3-531-8065
Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel fax: 972-3-535-1250
-----
"Life is a blur of Republicans and meat." -- Zippy

[brthe...@aol.com]

In article <19970105001...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
gril...@aol.com (Grillades) writes:

>
>I saw something similar with the Israel Philharmonic in Wash, DC. Right
>at the end of the Tchaikovsky 5th, when the orchestra pauses, applause
>began. It went on for a few seconds before those who were doing so

>realized they had made a ghastly mistake. The conductor, Zubin Mehta,
>ended the symphony in a perfunctory manner, no doubt quite annoyed.
>Needless to say, the mood was shattered.
>
>

This is quite a common occurrence - especially with those All-Tchaikovsky
concert spectaculars that orchestras seemingly do every year. Interesting
to note that Stokowski's recording he just rolls through that famous
pause, so there's no break at all. On the other hand, Mengelberg changes
the chord preceding the pause to a dominant seventh. I've always wondered
what Tchaik would have thought of these changes.

Brthe...@aol.com (John Blair)

[goldoil]

We Vancouverites bore witness to the most disasterous and controversial
concert in recent times...the New Years Eve concert with The Three Tenors.
Highlights included:

1) A local promoter wanted to stage TTT in Vancouver. The producers of
the TTT refused. The promoter kept asking, but she was refused. Finally she
got a few investors together and offered to pay for the entire show up
front. The producers relented. What followed made for interesting talk over
Espresso amd Cappucino.

2) Tickets went on sale, with the best seats priced at over a thousand
dollars. The stadium hosting the event could seat over 50,000 people, but
far fewer seats were sold. Seems that once you've seen TTT over and over on
PBS, why bother?

3) The promoter tried to cancel the event, sensing financial ruin...too
late, though. Her employees jumped ship; why work without a paycheque!

4) The concert setup fell way behind schedule - people speculated whether
TTT would have a stage on which to sing. The producers apparently poured in
some bucks to ensure that the concert happened.

5) It did happen, but not exactly. The promoter hyped that the TTT would
usher in the New Year with a sing along; TTT left the stage nearly a
half-hour before midnight, leaving some media type to coax the audience
into a sing-along to the New Year.

BTW, TTT didn't seem to be enjoying themselves much on stage; I suppose
they were miffed that they didn't get a sellout and didn't think Vancouver
was worth the effort.

[Arthur Serating]

I don't know if it would considered a disaster, but a number of years ago,
the CSO was playing a Mahler Symphony at Carnegie Hall under Solti. (It
may have been the 6th or 7th symph) At the end of the slow movement, an
audience member yelled from the rear of the auditorium, "Solti, too slow!"
The mood was disrupted, to say the least. ART

[Macfarlane]

At the Konzerhaus in Vienna I attended a concert given by
London Baroque and unfortunately conducted by their leader. At the
very beginning of the programme, Charles gave such a lavish flourish
to begin that half the group came in a beat early.

I didn't think that the rest of the concert showed what that group of
highly
talented musicians were capable of (Nicholas Parle on harpsichord and
Hiro forgotten his last name violin). Showed me that a good group of
players
can be sabotaged by poor conducting.

[Johannes95]

Though not a concert, at the Metropolitan opera, after Grace Bumbry sang
Tosca, someone (sitting embarrassingly near me) rudely shouted out at the
end of "Visse d'arte", "Renata Tebaldi!!!!!". I similarly remember the
spirit of the performance being ruined.

[Macfarlane]

Another concert that was less than brilliant was given by a choir from
Macquarie University, Australia, in 1985 or so. The University was not
known for
its music programmes or its choral tradition in those days so when I heard
the conductor talking about the preparation for the concert boasting that
he
was requiring the choir to sing with pure thirds...

It was in the middle of the Miserere (yes, Allegri's) when the performance
had
to be halted. As the soloist was seemingly unable to scale the heights
needed
for the work it had rather alarmingly dropped in pitch. The conductor,
David Kinsela,
pulled out his pitchfork, gave them new pitches and tried to restart them.

For what must have been about one minute, all hell broke loose. It sounded
like a
composition from the 1960's, and bore no resemblance to anything remotely
based on tonality. Ever been embarassed just listening to something?
Suddenly,
somehow, the parts finally managed to quite unexpectedly get it
together again. It was like ascending through the clouds and suddenly
reaching
sunshine. Trouble was, it was not the pitch that Kinsela had given, or the
one they
had reached before being stopped.

Pure thirds? If only they could have sung it reasonably in any temperament
it
would have been less of a disaster.