ark@alice.UUCP (Andrew Koenig) (02/19/85)
I heard Schubert's "Trout" quintet performed last night. As has happened all but one of the times I've heard it in concert, the audience started applauding about two minutes before the end of the last movement, at the place where it sounds like it might have ended but hasn't yet. I know of a few other pieces with similar "gotcha" endings: Brahms' sextet (Op. 36) and piano quintet (Op. 34) come to mind. I also recently heard a performance of Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony in which the audience started applauding wildly at the end of the 3rd movement. Some of them had already gotten up to leave when the orchestra began the fourth movement. Any other good "gotcha" endings out there?
wildbill@ucbvax.ARPA (William J. Laubenheimer) (02/20/85)
>... I also recently heard a performance of Tchaikovsky's >6th symphony in which the audience started applauding wildly >at the end of the 3rd movement. Some of them had already >gotten up to leave when the orchestra began the fourth movement. Could this perchance have been a San Francisco Symphony taped broadcast? I attended the performance at which the Pathetique was presented, and a sizable portion of the audience did precisely that. Michael Steinberg, the Symphony's annotator, concurs in the opinion that this is one of the great audience traps of all time (which is why I was ready -- I make a point of arriving at a performance early enough to read the program notes in an effort to gain some inkling of what is to follow. Steinberg's are uniformly excellent.). Yet when I was listening to the Philadelphia Orchestra broadcast of the same work, nobody was fooled. I guess the Philadelphia crowd is somewhat more experienced in such matters... Bill Laubenheimer ----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science ...Killjoy went that-a-way---> ucbvax!wildbill
gayde@ihuxp.UUCP (Peter Gayde) (02/20/85)
>... I also recently heard a performance of Tchaikovsky's >6th symphony in which the audience started applauding wildly >at the end of the 3rd movement. Some of them had already >gotten up to leave when the orchestra began the fourth movement. The greatest "gotcha" in my experience is in the last movement of Tchaikovsky's FIFTH symphony. There is a great climax, with a tympani roll and a loud brass fanfare which most unsuspecting audience members would mistake for the real coda. I once attended a Detroit Symphony rehearsal where the musicians applauded at this point in mock derision, having obviously experienced this during previous performances. Some conductors I have heard continue immediately into the coda so that there is no chance of applause starting too soon. -- Peter Gayde AT&T Technologies Naperville, IL ihnp4!{iwslc,ihuxp}!gayde (312) 979-7598
berry@zinfandel.UUCP (Berry Kercheval) (02/21/85)
I sometimes don't understand people. When I was very young and was taken to concerts, I was told NOT to applaud until the conductor turned around to face the audience, since the music wasn't 'over' until then. If people did that, there would be no confusion, except for groups with no conductors, like string quartets. There you should probably wait until they put their bows down or something. *sigh* whatever happened to common sense? -- La musique est une science qui veut qu`on rit et chante et dance. -- Guillaume de Machaut Berry Kercheval Zehntel Inc. (ihnp4!zehntel!zinfandel!berry) (415)932-6900 (kerch@lll-tis.ARPA)
jwg@galbp.UUCP (Joe Guthridge) (02/22/85)
Last night on Live from Lincoln Center, Andre Watts (sp?) played a Chopin
Etude as an encore with a great gotcha ending. Just when it sounded over,
the audience began applauding, but he started this low trill in the bass.
When the audience realized the mistake and stopped, he simply ended the trill
and played the real final chord. Wonderful! But I don't know the number
of the Etude.
Also he broke a string during the first Gershwin prelude, but continued the
concert when it was cut out. That was exciting.
It occurs to me that there's another kind of gotcha - that's when the audience
isn't sure the piece is over. This category is larger because it includes
almost every piece that has a quiet ending. For example, Also Sprach
Zarathustra.
--
Joe Guthridge
..!{akgua,gatech}!galbp!jwgjeffw@tekecs.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) (02/22/85)
Re: early applause in Tchiakowsky's 6th. So much for the vaunted sophisitication of San Francisco audiences. :-) (Take it easy - I would be happy to be a member of one. I wouldn't even applaud in the wrong place.) On a more provincial level, I remember a performance of Stravinsky's Petrouchka Suite before a Salem (Oregon) audience which failed to applaud even at the end. 'Cause they didn't know it was the end. The conductor (Jacques Singer for those unfortunate enough to know) retaliated by playing the last 40 bars or so twice more, just so people would get the idea. Well, what do you expect from a conductor who would have the orchestra play "The Star-Spangled Banner" before each concert? Jeff Winslow *** REPLACE, REPLACE, REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE, O SEA ***
jeffw@tekecs.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) (02/22/85)
I just remembered another hilarious gotcha. A friend of mine at Berkeley (Chuck Fuery - is he making a name for himself anywhere?) performed Chopin's 4th Ballade (yum!) and had to put up with applause at the end of the soft dominant chords just before the final bash. A pianist could have nightmares about that! Also, I have a copy of the Chopin Preludes which has, from some previous owner, just before the final V-I of the F minor prelude, the note: "wait as long as you dare". Jeff Winslow
parker@psuvax1.UUCP (Bruce Parker) (02/23/85)
It's pretty pathetic when folks don't even know when a piece
from the Top Forty of classical music is over. It speaks loudly
of why we who love new music shouldn't care a whit for the turkeys
who insist on listening to nothing but old music. These folks do not
go to concerts to listen to a work -- they go to have their ears
massaged by friendly familiar sounds. They go to be seen by their
rich friends. They could care less about anything but the trappings
of art. They do not want to think.
This is a most curious situation because all too often one hears
the argument that "popular music is too banal; classical music is
for people who think". My experience has been that the most close-minded
unthinking people are the ones who favor only classical music,
especially singers who've gone the route of conservatory training.
"Music died with Schubert" indeed!
--
Bruce Parker
Computer Science Department (814) 865-1545
334 Whitmore Lab {allegra|ihnp4}!psuvax1!parker
The Pennsylvania State University parker@penn-state (csnet)
University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 parker@psuvax1 (bitnet)hardie@sask.UUCP (Peter Hardie ) (02/24/85)
I also saw the Andre Watts concert wherein some of the audience started clapping before the end of the op. 25 No 1 etude. Couldn't believe it! Anyway, I was at a concert many years ago at the Royal Festival Hall in London, given by Tamas Vasary. Part of the program was three pieces by Bartok and just to be sure the audience knew when he had finished them he bounced up at the end and bowed before the applause had started! (Just as well too .. I wouldn't have known when they were over ... not familiar with Bartok at all). Tamas Vasary is perhaps my favourite pianist. I've never heard him make a mistake in concert but, even if he did, I enjoy SEEING a live performance as much as HEARING it. Records can't capture that feeling of being there. pete ihnp4!sask!hardie
jho@ihuxn.UUCP (Yosi Hoshen) (02/25/85)
The Beethoven violin concerto has a very surprising ending. In the last few minutes of the music, several times it appears that it is coming to a gotcha ending. Yet, it does not end. At the end of the piece, you hear the first 5 notes from the beginning of the third movement, leading the listener to think that here we start all over again. The 5 notes are then followed with two short notes, and that is the end of the concerto. It is quiet clear that Beethoven was trying to have fun with the listeners. -- Yosi Hoshen, Bell Laboratories Naperville, Illinois, (312)-979-7321, Mail: ihnp4!ihuxn!jho
mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (02/26/85)
The first movement of Mahler's Titan Symphony (#1) ends about ten
minutes before it finishes.
I never considered this or the other examples as "gotcha's". I think
of them simply as mistakes.
--
Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt
{uw-beaver,qucis,watmath}!utcsri!dciem!mmt