# Longest applause at a classical concert you have witnessed



## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

Those at our local opera house last a few good minutes, but apparently the applause at the premiere of Mahler's 8th symphony lasted as long as 20 minutes. 

What's the longest you have heard or participated in?


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Without doubt - the Solti/ChicagoSO performance of Mahler Sym #5 in Carnegie Hall, March 1970....an amazing, now "legendary" concert, superhuman playing...the audience went totally nuts, like at a major sporting event - whistling, hooting, hollering, stamping, applauding...it went on for at least 35', it was unbelievable....would have gone on a lot longer, but finally Solti came out for the jillionth time, dragged the concertmaster off with him -<<Sorry, we have a plane to catch>> he said laughing and waving....as the orchestra left the stage, only then did the applause begin to diminish..


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## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

Heck148 said:


> Without doubt - the Solti/ChicagoSO performance of Mahler Sym #5 in Carnegie Hall, March 1970....an amazing, now "legendary" concert, superhuman playing...the audience went totally nuts, like at a major sporting event - whistling, hooting, hollering, stamping, applauding...it went on for at least 35', it was unbelievable....would have gone on a lot longer, but finally Solti came out for the jillionth time, dragged the concertmaster off with him -<<Sorry, we have a plane to catch>> he said laughing and waving....as the orchestra left the stage, only then did the applause begin to diminish..


That's amazing! But 35 minutes... man, one could fit entire Beethoven's 5th as an encore in that timeframe


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

Grigory Sokolov at the Concertgebouw in 2011, after playing encores for an hour.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

My Dad had stories from low double digit "curtains" at a local opera in the 1960s which must amount to around 30 min, if one allows about 2-3 min for the ensemble to enter and leave for each curtain.

I didn't time the longest I witnessed and I am not a regular attendant anymore but it was Gulda in Berlin ca. 1994 or 95. The concert was not that long overall (Beethoven op.13 (I think, not even sure), op. 110 and 111) and Gulda was already a bit frail. I am not sure about all the details but between periods of long and enthusiastic applause he played one or two P&F from WTC as encore (I am sure about the Ab major), then the finale from Mozart's last piano sonata, then he launched into the Meistersinger prelude but I think he did not play a whole piano version of it, finally he started improvising some of his crazy Viennese stuff and maybe sang to it. It was hilarious and the playing had also been great, esp. op.111 and the Mozart encore.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

VoiceFromTheEther said:


> That's amazing! But 35 minutes... man, one could fit entire Beethoven's 5th as an encore in that timeframe


Wait. Are you sure that wasn't a John Cage piece?


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I don't know. but I know the longest encore. At an Elly Ameling recital they had engaged Gervase de Peyer to play clarinet expressly for Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen. They played it last, and repeated it for an encore so they got their money's worth from de Peyer.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

The most extraordinary concert I was ever a part of and the most vociferous, long-lasting applause was some 40 years ago when the Flagstaff Symphony had the audacity to put on the Mahler 2nd. For a bunch of semi-pro and amateurs in a (at that time) small mountain town was quite a challenge, but we rose to it. I will never forget the ending - when the choir had its last word, the audience went nuts - even with a minute or so of music left. They were clapping, cheering...you could hear them over the orchestra. When the orchestra finished the roar of the crowd rose to an astonishing level. People were standing on their seats. The applause ans cheering went on for a good 10 minutes. Conductor and soloists took curtain call after curtain call. Of course there was no encore. The conductor finally had to grab the hand of the concert master and lead her off the stage to get the audience to stop and leave. About 10 minutes - my record.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

My senior horn recital at university...they were clapping because I stopped.


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

I find it amusing when iTunes sells 5 minutes of applause as a separate track. Meanwhile, at least one of the actual movements is listed as "album only," due to exceeding 10 minutes in length.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

mbhaub said:


> The most extraordinary concert I was ever a part of and the most vociferous, long-lasting applause was some 40 years ago when the Flagstaff Symphony had the audacity to put on the Mahler 2nd. For a bunch of semi-pro and amateurs in a (at that time) small mountain town was quite a challenge, but we rose to it. I will never forget the ending - when the choir had its last word, the audience went nuts - even with a minute or so of music left. They were clapping, cheering...you could hear them over the orchestra. When the orchestra finished the roar of the crowd rose to an astonishing level. People were standing on their seats. The applause ans cheering went on for a good 10 minutes. Conductor and soloists took curtain call after curtain call. Of course there was no encore. The conductor finally had to grab the hand of the concert master and lead her off the stage to get the audience to stop and leave. About 10 minutes - my record.


At an arts center I worked for a similarly semi-pro ensemble tried to pull off a Mahler 2nd, but by an accident of fate, it was the same night as the first moon landing and a number of ticket-holders chose the moon over Mahler. The conductor was so irrationally ripped at the empty seats, that he demanded the publicist be fired.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Bernard Haitink in Rotterdam conducting Mahler 2 with the Rotterdam Phliharmonic. must have been 45 minutes at least .:clap:


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

I hope they didn't accidentally leave the applause sign lit up  https://coloradopeakpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/applause.jpg


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Not a Mahler here , a Shostakovich... 7th Symphony... LPO with Kurt Masur at the Royal Festival Hall , South Bank Center in, I believe, 2004

A fantastic experience


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Last Saturday Oct 16 John Williams, almost 90 years old, led the Berlin Philharmonic for the first time, in a concert of his own works. Orchestra members expressed their fondness for Williams and his music in individual interviews. Williams returned the feeling and called Berlin the greatest orchestra in the world. They sure sounded like it, it was a beautiful concert that brought out the classical aspects of the mostly familiar cinematic pieces.

It is customary for the orchestra to leave the stage and the conductor to take a solo bow at the end of a Berlin concert. The enthusiastic applause at the end of this concert lasted over 10 minutes as the crowd tried to coax Williams to come back one last time, which he never did. Perhaps he felt the orchestra was an equal partner and he did not merit solo recognition.


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## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

Open Book said:


> Last Saturday Oct 16 John Williams, almost 90 years old, led the Berlin Philharmonic for the first time, in a concert of his own works. Orchestra members expressed their fondness for Williams and his music in individual interviews. Williams returned the feeling and called Berlin the greatest orchestra in the world. They sure sounded like it, it was a beautiful concert that brought out the classical aspects of the mostly familiar cinematic pieces.
> 
> It is customary for the orchestra to leave the stage and the conductor to take a solo bow at the end of a Berlin concert. The enthusiastic applause at the end of this concert lasted over 10 minutes as the crowd tried to coax Williams to come back one last time, which he never did. Perhaps he felt the orchestra was an equal partner and he did not merit solo recognition.


Actually nearly 14 minutes, or so I'm told. Still, featherweight compared to some of the examples above. Williams fares better in the number of standing ovations though - about a dozen of them every international concert, including the one when he enters the room. And my favourite: people cheering and applauding when the music _begins_. Bad for a recording, but live one can feel a common tradition alive and kicking, which is all too rare in classical concert halls nowadays.


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## ddavewes (Dec 7, 2014)

In 2006 or so, I went to a recital by Evgeny Kissin. I left after 7 encores and a review the next day said the encore total was 11.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

I was at a concert Maurizio Pollini gave in 1989 at the Salzburg festival where there was 20 minutes of applause after the Hammerklavier at the end. Longest I've experienced. I was so shocked I timed it - that's how I remember!


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## FrankinUsa (Aug 3, 2021)

Interesting question because I have never measured(in seconds). Three come to mind. Pierre Boulez/VPO doing Mahler 3. Dohnanyi/Cleveland…two perfect. Mahler 9 and Bartok Bluebeards Castle. Dohnanyi/Cleveland get two spots because Cleveland is my favorite so I go to every concert at Carnegie.


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## 96 Keys (Oct 21, 2021)

I didn't time the applause, but I heard Birgit Nilsson in recital, and her final work, the last scene from _Götterdämmerung_ really brought down the house! Then, her encore, Brünnhilde's battle cry "Ho jo to ho!" made me worry about the concert hall's structure! I don't think I've ever heard such an eruption from an audience! She must have done nearly a dozen curtain calls. We kept clapping, hooting, and stomping even after the lights came on, but she didn't appear again.


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Stan the Man got a very long standing ovation and lots of whoops, hollering and cheering after a particularly inspired Bruckner 4 at the Free Trade Hall. Went on for a while but no idea how long. I once saw a Takacs Quartet recital at Manchester's RNCM in the mid 2000s. Not a big crowd present but they played a divine Debussy quartet followed by an absolutely stunning Beethoven Serioso that brought the house down. It received a really noisy response from those present (that resulted in many encores). The recital was supposed to last around an hour but actually went on for just shy of 2 hours. Even better I got a huge discount as I worked for the council so it cost me something silly like £2.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

It must have been when Carlo Maria Giulini did a fully staged performance of Verdi's _Falstaff_ as part of the regular Los Angeles Philharmonic season in 1982. The cast included Renato Bruson, Katia Ricciarelli, Leo Nucci, Barbara Hendricks and Lucia Valentini-Terrani. This was Giulini's return to opera for the first time in more than a decade. I don't remember how long the applause continued for but it was quite the event!

P.S. A recording of these performances was released by DGG


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Merl said:


> Stan the Man got a very long standing ovation and lots of whoops, hollering and cheering after a particularly inspired Bruckner 4 at the Free Trade Hall.


Who is Stan the Man?


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski


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## Judas Priest Fan (Apr 27, 2018)

A friend of mine is named Stan, and he has a van. He is known as Stan the Van Man 

Back on topic, I have only been to about 4 live Classical concerts. and I thought the whole applause, the conductor leaving the stage, and returning, leaving and returning...... a bit strange. Very strange, really.

As much as I enjoyed the concerts, I can´t clap for more than a minute or so because it just plain hurts my hands.


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