# How Important to you Is Seeing Live CM?



## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

I enjoy dressing up and going to a grand hall for a show, but home listening is quite sufficient for me.

Chamber music on the other hand could be a different story! You hear the nuance better, I feel.

Thoughts?


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Organ music is the one genre that I prefer to hear live, and we have ample opportunity for that in our town (well, not now of course).

For live concerts (orchestra or chamber or solo) of good quality we would have to travel 2x2 hours - I'd rather listen to a CD.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Nothing beats live of course, but tickets cost money. Live opera, live chamber music and everything in between are great.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

That's why I love YouTube. You get a good chunk of the live experience at home in your pajamas. Great sound, and Eye of God optics. Roar of the crowd. An addict.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Strange Magic said:


> That's why I love YouTube. You get a good chunk of the live experience at home in your pajamas. Great sound, and Eye of God optics. Roar of the crowd. An addict.


Then again, you have to deal with all the ads.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Then again, you have to deal with all the ads.


No. For the trivial price of $9.95 per month, the ads go away. But YouTube is intolerable without that necessary expense.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Captainnumber36 said:


> Then again, you have to deal with all the ads.


Adblock (there are probably others, but that's the one I'm using) takes care of that very well.


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## Captainnumber36 (Jan 19, 2017)

Art Rock said:


> Adblock (there are probably others, but that's the one I'm using) takes care of that very well.


That did seem to do the trick with the one video I tried after installing the software!  Thanks you.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Listening to classical live isn't that important to me. If I spend a lot of money on a concert, I get nervous, like I have to take in everything and hear everything just the right way or else I'll have wasted my money, and I don't end up enjoying it. It's probably some reaction to a childhood trauma or a dream where a cigar was just a cigar. 

I have noticed that I really like spontaneous classical music. Once a cellist walked around downtown Nashville, stopped randomly, and started playing Bach's cello suites. That was amazing.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

I prefer live, but I've gotten spoiled: only if it's in a good hall, a fine orchestra or other ensemble, and music that I truly love. The sense of space around you, the visceral impact of the music is impossible to replicate electronically. But most concerts (when there were concerts) are of repertoire I've heard or played countless times and it doesn't interest me. I can stay home, have a pint, and listen to lesser known works and be very happy. I've been a subscriber to the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall for several years now - it's tremendously well produced and if I turn off the lights and crank up the volume it's rather exciting.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Live music is the best. I love live concerts - there is always such an anticipation, a potential ....I choose carefully which concerts I want to hear. I get the best tickets I can, make an event of it....
front row balcony seats, where you can see what's happening - I like to see who's playing, what size string section...who's playing, is it the principals, or are the associate principals playing this piece?? how many extras??...

I always get together with my college roommate for a couple of BSO concerts every year - we go over the programs, pick out our mutual favorites and make a night of it. not this year, of course...bummer...


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Once we had children and moved out of the city, live music pretty much ceased to be an option. It was never a major thing for me anyway. I'm much happier having the vast choice available from home listening.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Not so important to me. The live performances of CM that happen in my small town once a year tend to be subpar, and I do not have a car to watch better performances in other cities, so I'm stuck with non-live CM anyway.


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## larold (Jul 20, 2017)

Not very; I only go to concerts with music I want to hear, typically that I've never heard in concert.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

I probably should have done more to support my local orchestras, but by-and-large I've only been to very few classical music concerts despite my life-long interest in classical music and my huge collection of classical music recordings. I grew up in a working class or lower-middle class family, and nobody in my family knew anything about classical music. I always felt awkward at concerts, and as though I never fit in very well with the wine-and-cheese crowd.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Coach G said:


> I never fit in very well with the wine-and-cheese crowd.


Me neither! As if regular season events aren't bad enough, summer festivals by and large have become playgrounds for the rich and privileged and I feel really out of place. Aspen, Vail, Hollywood Bowl, Santa Fe...even at Round Top I feel out of my element. I won't even consider European festivals like Verbier, Salzburg, etc. I do feel pretty good at the London Proms, though. Not a snooty place at all.


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## julide (Jul 24, 2020)

Then sit at the cheap seats like the rest of us


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> Adblock (there are probably others, but that's the one I'm using) takes care of that very well.


I use it on my laptop but I have no way of installing it on my Smart TV. I really hope we can get back to live performances later this year if the Covid vaccines do the trick.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Coach G said:


> I always felt awkward at concerts, and as though I never fit in very well with the wine-and-cheese crowd.


If you ever visit Nashville, I don't think you'd feel that way. They're pretty low key out here. When Garth Brooks was here, he was known to occasionally pop into an orchestral box, and you know about him: he has friends in low places.


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

I go increasing less (decreasingly more?) as I age, but especially chamber concerts with works I don't particularly know always give me a much better sense of the work than just listening blind.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Wow...it's pretty disappointing the lack of enthusiasm for live classical concerts....live performance is THE EVENT...it's what is happening...what it's all about....recordings are fine, but they merely replicate an actual event that as already occurred...there's no way a recording can fully duplicate the aural and visual excitement of a live concert....not an encouraging sign for serious concert aka classical music


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Heck148 said:


> Wow...it's pretty disappointing the lack of enthusiasm for live classical concerts....live performance is THE EVENT...it's what is happening...what it's all about....recordings are fine, but they merely replicate an actual event that as already occurred...*there's no way a recording can fully duplicate the aural and visual excitement of a live concert....*not an encouraging sign for serious concert aka classical music


To most here such "event hype" is clearly separate from the appreciation of the compositions or even music-making itself, and is at best a different, occasional side dish.


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

I miss attending my one or two operas in person that was my norm annually tremendously. It is musical theater afterall, and even watching the MET on demand or other streaming services doesn't come close to capturing the essence of the artform that you get experiencing it live.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

WildThing said:


> I miss attending my one or two operas in person that was my norm annually tremendously. It is musical theater afterall, and even watching the MET on demand or other streaming services doesn't come close to capturing the essence of the artform that you get experiencing it live.


True. I only went to one opera, and found it way different than listening. More than instrumental music, since it is theatre. Going to see instrumental Live is great when the performance and interpretation matches it. When the interpretation is only so-so, I tend to come away empty.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Fabulin said:


> To most here such "event hype" is clearly separate from the appreciation of the compositions or even music-making itself, and is at best a different, occasional side dish.


??? "music- making itself = live performance!!
Compositions exist only in the mind of the composer UNTIL they are performed, by live musicians (electronic/computer music excepted, of course)


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Heck148 said:


> ??? "music- making itself = live performance!!
> Compositions exist only in the mind of the composer UNTIL they are performed, by live musicians (electronic/computer music excepted, of course)


music making = tempi, dynamics, interpretation...
not the image of people doing these things


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## RogerWaters (Feb 13, 2017)

I dislike classical concerts for the most part. 

What with the strategic imposition of new and/or national works into the middle of programs, rendering avoidance impossible, and the stultified atmosphere in which the wheezing and coughing of Aged Parents replaces the natural inclination to express admiration after each movement. 

Then again, I live in but a humble city unserved by major symphonic arsenals.

But add to this the diabolical tendency to perform chamber works in the large concert hall for want of more tickets sold, rendering the aforementioned biological croakings commensurate, in volume, with the intended music, and you have a really non-attractive proposition.


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

Fabulin said:


> music making = tempi, dynamics, interpretation...
> not the image of people doing these things


Music- making = musicians(live persons!!), performing, playing, creating tempo, dynamics, phrasing, interpretation. These things are not happening by themselves...


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## Heck148 (Oct 27, 2016)

I'm so glad I've retired....(smh)...if musicians stop making music because nobody comes to hear them...then, there will be none. That is depressing.


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Heck148 said:


> Wow...it's pretty disappointing the lack of enthusiasm for live classical concerts....live performance is THE EVENT...it's what is happening...what it's all about....recordings are fine, but they merely replicate an actual event that as already occurred...there's no way a recording can fully duplicate the aural and visual excitement of a live concert....not an encouraging sign for serious concert aka classical music


Yes, I'm surprised also. Going to a performance in person is very, very important to me, and I miss it so much!


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## Axter (Jan 15, 2020)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I enjoy dressing up and going to a grand hall for a show, but home listening is quite sufficient for me.
> 
> Chamber music on the other hand could be a different story! You hear the nuance better, I feel.
> 
> Thoughts?


I feel exactly the same, CM I really need to listen live. 
Somehow I lose concentration with CM, don't know why, if not live. But that's not the case with big bands.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Captainnumber36 said:


> I enjoy dressing up and going to a grand hall for a show, but home listening is quite sufficient for me.
> 
> Chamber music on the other hand could be a different story! You hear the nuance better, I feel.
> 
> Thoughts?


I am not one for dressing up, but I have always felt that only in a live setting do we experience music as it should be heard. Recordings are a pale alternative compared to the real thing, which is in-person, live performances. And regarding recordings, I vastly prefer live recordings with audience, over those done in a studio.


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## julide (Jul 24, 2020)

I think studio recordings are valid in realizing the score in a different manner than live music making but i prefer the latter if i have the choice.


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## jdec (Mar 23, 2013)

In true connection with music, I prefer recordings with great musicians/performances than live concerts with subpar musicians/performances. But go to live concerts from time to time just for the show.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Recordings are fine for learning things. But live is the real deal.
As Klemperer said - recordings are like going to bed with a photo of Greta Garbo (or was it Marilyn Monroe)


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

You want live? Short of actually, physically being in the concert hall, here is about as good as live gets:






(I've got YouTube's ad blocker, which is essential for full enjoyment.)


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