# What a glorious, transcendent recording of- COUGH, COUGH... ACHOO!



## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

I've been listening to the Braenboim/Du Pre recordings of Beethoven's Cello Sonatas for the first time. My goodness, they're amazingly played. Du Pre in particular is a revelation (to me, I know she was world famous before this). Her rhythmic playing, the sounds she gets out of the instrument, just divine.









But sweet merciful crap, the coughing and sneezing REALLY drags me out of the performances. What a shame these were recorded live. I just --- people, if you're going to a chamber performance, drug yourself beforehand! Cough into your arm as quietly as possible!

Are others just better than I am at tuning it out?

I do attend live performances (seeing Gardiner's Beethoven tonight, in fact), and it doesn't bother me quite as much in person. But over headphones, aaargh. I'm so frustrated, because the performance is so amazing.


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## Bill Cooke (May 20, 2017)

The worst example of this, in my opinion, is Mravinsky's amazing account of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, recorded live in London, which is now on a BBC Legends CD. It sounds like the audience is dying from an influenza epidemic. Tragic, really, because, in my opinion, there's never been a better account of this symphony.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

MatthewWeflen said:


> I've been listening to the Braenboim/Du Pre recordings of Beethoven's Cello Sonatas for the first time. My goodness, they're amazingly played. Du Pre in particular is a revelation (to me, I know she was world famous before this). Her rhythmic playing, the sounds she gets out of the instrument, just divine.
> 
> View attachment 131167
> 
> ...


Aye, it can be totally offputting sometimes. I have a few live recordings where the audience are louder than the performers. Its horrid but if the performance is good enough i can zone out a bit.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

It drives me crazy, particularly where it sounds like some of the people made no attempt to muffle the cough. On the other hand, there are some live recordings where I don’t hear the audience at all even though I can see them there. It has seemed to me that German audiences are particularly good at being quiet, but I could be wrong.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I'm pretty good at ignoring it. I just put on the Yo Yo Ma versions of these Sonatas, they are sounding ok, the piano is a bit bland (Emanuel Ax).


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I just switched to the Du Pre/Barenboim recording for a comparison, they are much stronger.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

I have a little bit of sympathy for it, unlike clapping between movements, whlch is a voluntary action. But on some performances (especially from the "olden days" when probably half the crowd were smokers) it's just ridiculous. Horenstein's LSO Mahler 8 is a miraculous achievement, but I've never heard such a group of hackers. Also why many of Richter's piano recordings can be tough to swallow.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

I believe I've coughed a few times during attendance at Pittsburgh Symphony concerts which were programmed for live recordings. I'm always hopeful that when I get the disc I'll be able to hear the specific cough and proudly point out in anticipation "Hey! Here comes my solo!"


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Coughing doesn't disturb me too much. I seem to be able to tune it out easily. I suppose, once one is irritated by it, it will be hard to tune out? Perhaps those who are distracted only have themselves to blame for allowing the odd cough to distract them? 

I don't get upset about performers singing along with their playing either.


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

SONNET CLV said:


> I believe I've coughed a few times during attendance at Pittsburgh Symphony concerts which were programmed for live recordings. I'm always hopeful that when I get the disc I'll be able to hear the specific cough and proudly point out in anticipation "Hey! Here comes my solo!"


:lol::lol::lol:


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Duncan said:


> :lol::lol::lol:


Maybe it's about time that someone fought back. How about writing a Concerto for Cougher and Orchestra (with Audience Participation). What could be a sweeter revenge? If you can't beat 'em ….

I think I could be a great soloist. I feel a touch of bronchitis setting in.


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## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

I have come to subsume the coughing into the general "behind enemy lines" atmosphere of the live recordings of Furtwaengler with the Berliner Philharmoniker in the 1940s. The performances just wouldn't excite me as much without it. That said, I am always terrified that I'll have a coughing fit when I go to a concert, leading me to medicate preemptively which makes me zone out.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

On first listen the coughs can be a little distracting because I don't expect them. Through subsequent listens I learn where they occur and shrug them off. I do wish they'd used a rehearsal taping for the prelude to Knappertsbusch's 1962 _Parsifal,_ as it's quiet music and it takes the audience a few minutes to settle down.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

seitzpf said:


> I have come to subsume the coughing into the general "behind enemy lines" atmosphere of the live recordings of Furtwaengler with the Berliner Philharmoniker in the 1940s. The performances just wouldn't excite me as much without it. That said, I am always terrified that I'll have a coughing fit when I go to a concert, leading me to medicate preemptively which makes me zone out.


(To be lighthearted) So you're saying that the fact it is Nazi coughing that makes Furtwangler's wartime recordings so compelling?! It is true that I do always think of the uniformed audience when I listen to them. But I think it is the performances that are compelling. How does Soviet coughing suit you?

As for your cough medicine, music can often sound different on drugs. What are you taking to suppress your cough.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Coughing and other extraneous noises don't really bother me very much. I find it more objectionable when recording engineers choose to record in such a way to eliminate such sounds, which usually means recording too closely and removing ambience from the recording. I'd rather hear what the hall sounds like, even if it means a few odd coughs and such.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

Woodduck said:


> I do wish they'd used a rehearsal taping for the prelude to Knappertsbusch's 1962 _Parsifal,_ as it's quiet music and it takes the audience a few minutes to settle down.


Recordings at the Festspielhaus tend to be quite noisy, probably because the hall is so live.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

this is probably the only musical thing where I even like to hear someone coughing.
Generally while I have a deep distaste for the etiquette of classical concerts, I think it's really annoying. Maybe it's that I've never heard people coughing so much in a pop concert, or any other places, hospitasl included like a classical concert. Maybe it's just misophonia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I really don't care about coughing or sneezing on recordings. 

I listen to my system with the intention of trying to mentally and emotionally, put myself at the musical event as it occured, when it was recorded. A few coughs help add to that illusion.


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## MatthewWeflen (Jan 24, 2019)

Simon Moon said:


> I really don't care about coughing or sneezing on recordings.
> 
> I listen to my system with the intention of trying to mentally and emotionally, put myself at the musical event as it occured, when it was recorded. A few coughs help add to that illusion.


I guess I approach listening to music from the reverse angle. Although I enjoy live performances quite a bit (the live Gardiner/ORR I mentioned above was wonderful), when I'm listening at home over my headphones, I want it to be an "ideal" experience, as if I'm communing with the music on a different plane of reality. And so for that purpose, coughing breaks that illusion.


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## perdido34 (Mar 11, 2015)

The classic live recording of a coughing disaster is Richter's 1958 Sofia recital, recording during a flu epidemic. The performance of Mussorgsky's "Pictures" is a standout.

Mussorgsky


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